The arrest of Vice Chancellor of Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) Vallabhaneni Damodar Naidu under SC/ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act for allegedly abusing a former tribal employee, gained political overtones.
Naidu, who was arrested by the Thulllur on Sunday, was granted bail by the state high court on Monday evening.
The case was booked against him based on a complaint from one U Muralikrishna, who had earlier worked as an attender on outsourcing basis in the university between 2016 and 2019. He was dismissed in April 2019, allegedly without any prior notice.
Apparently, the Vice Chancellor had abused Muralikrishna using his caste name and the police arrested him after verifying all the evidences after a gap of nearly 20 days.
However, the Telugu Desam Party sought to smear political colour to Naidu’s arrest.
TDP MLC and spokesman P Ashok Babu alleged that the Vice-Chancellor’s arrest was a conspiracy by the ruling party to remove him from the post, just because he was appointed by the TDP government.
He, however, avoided referring to the appointment of Naidu as V-C on caste considerations by the TDP regime.
Former minister K S Jawahar wondered how Vice Chancellor could be arrested without intimating the Governor, who is the chancellor of the university.
So, there is nothing that the TDP cannot politicise, even if it is a caste issue!
