A fresh political storm has erupted in Telangana after video footage surfaced showing 70-year-old Congress lawmaker Malreddy Ranga Reddy holding a young female student's hand inside a public transport vehicle. The legislator, who represents the Ibrahimpatnam constituency, was traveling aboard a state-run bus operating under the government's free transit initiative for women. The clip captures him conversing with commuting college students before grabbing the hand of one young woman and drawing her toward him, prompting her to immediately pull back. As the recording circulated across online platforms, opposition parties launched blistering attacks against the ruling party and the veteran politician.
The Interaction Aboard the Free Transit Service
The encounter took place while the legislator was riding a state transport bus running under the Congress administration's flagship Mahalaxmi free bus travel scheme. During the journey, several female passengers engaged in conversation with the lawmaker to share their experiences with the program. The students explained that they had been commuting under this initiative for nearly a year, adding that the waiver of fares helped save them roughly 45,000 rupees every year. However, during this exchange, the video shows the MLA taking hold of a student's hand and pulling her closer. Visibly uncomfortable, the student pulled away instantly. The brief clip spread rapidly across social media, turning into a major focal point for political debate.
Opposition Mounts Fierce Criticism Over Conduct
Reacting swiftly to the circulating footage, Bharatiya Janata Party National Social Media Co-Convener Arun Yadav shared the video publicly, questioning the 70-year-old lawmaker's deportment and labeling his actions improper. Yadav linked the controversy to past remarks made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Pune regarding the need to dismantle patriarchal structures. The opposition party challenged the state leadership, asking why a political organization that routinely champions women's rights and dignity remains completely silent regarding the personal conduct of its own elected representative.
Simultaneously, Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader R.S. Praveen Kumar adopted an equally stern position against the legislator. He questioned the justification for seizing a young woman's hand in transit and argued that such behavior directly violates the dignity of women. Demanding official accountability, the BRS leader appealed directly to the Telangana State Commission for Women and the Director General of Police to initiate immediate and stringent punitive proceedings against the lawmaker.
Lawmaker Rebuts Allegations and Cites Loss of Balance
Facing widespread condemnation from political adversaries, Ibrahimpatnam MLA Malreddy Ranga Reddy categorically denied any wrongdoing, insisting that his intentions were entirely pure. The lawmaker maintained that he was interacting with the young commuters with genuine fatherly affection. Providing context to his journey, he stated that he had boarded the passenger bus at Bonguluru on October 6 following an official meeting at the District Collectorate.
According to the legislator, the bus was packed with passengers, and the commuting students were actively requesting him to arrange additional services along the route to ease severe overcrowding. He maintained that as the heavy vehicle negotiated a sharp road turn, he momentarily lost his physical balance and instinctively reached out to steady himself. He accused the BRS of manipulating normal footage and circulating an out-of-context narrative across digital channels to deliberately tarnish his public reputation.
