GUNTUR: YSRC Tadikonda MLA Vundavalli Sridevi, who is facing probe into her caste status, on Tuesday appeared before the inquiry officer and submitted documents related to her caste. Sridevi won from the Tadikonda SC reserved constituency.
The controversy over her caste surfaced after AS Santosh, working president of NGO Legal Rights Protection Forum, lodged a complaint with President Ramnath Kovind alleging that Sridevi’s claims of being a Dalit were false.
The Forum complained that Sridevi had also claimed to be a Christian, which made her ineligible to contest from an SC reserved segment.
After the President asked the Election Commission to probe into the complaint, EC asked the State government authorities to initiate an inquiry into the caste of the MLA.
Following this, Guntur Joint Collector AS Dinesh Kumar, also the chairman of district-level scrutiny committee, served notices on Sridevi asking her to appear before him on November 26 and submit evidences to prove her SC status. Sridevi appeared before the JC on Tuesday and submitted documents to prove her claim.
Speaking to reporters after appearing before the JC, Sridevi said, “I had been raising the issue of insider trading in land pooling in the capital area. That is why I am being targeted by the Opposition TDP,’’ the MLA representing the Tadikonda constituency that falls under the Amaravati capital area said.
Sridevi also alleged that former Telugu Desam leaders, who have since joined the BJP, were harassing her in the name of her caste fearing that their involvement in insider trading in the Amaravati land issue would be exposed.
Meanwhile, another NGO, Forum for Indigenous Rights - North East, filed a complaint with the Election Commission against Home Minister Mekathoti Sucharitha for misusing SC status.
The NGO alleged that Sucharitha, in an interview, claimed to be a Christian.
Sucharitha contested and won from Prathipadu SC reserved constituency in Guntur district and is presently home minister in the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy cabinet.
During the nomination, she claimed her caste as SC in the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission. However, as a Christian, she is not supposed to hold SC status.
By suppressing the fact that she is a Christian, she claimed herself to be a SC and lied to the people, the complaint said.