For Rs 56, wife of Andhra Pradesh minister picks up fight with officials on Hyderabad-Guntur highway

P Venkata Kumari, wife of Andhra Pradesh’s civil supplies minister Prathipati Pulla Rao, is at the centre of a controversy after a video of her tiff with toll plaza officials went viral. According to latest media reports, Kumari was seen picking up fight with officials on Hyderabad-Guntur highway for toll of Rs 56! The incident took place of Friday when her convoy was passing through the toll plaza. Stopped for the payment of money, P Venkata Kumari threw a fit and started shouting at the worker manning the plaza.

After local media published about the incident, P Venkata Kumari reportedly asked, “The election results in Andhra Pradesh have yet been declared. My husband is still a minister and an MLA. How can the toll plaza staff obstruct his car?”

According to an HT report, the viral video showed how Kumari kept on arguing with the officials and ‘ordered’ them to allow her car to go without paying the toll. However, the official stood his ground and said that she must pay the toll. When she pointed at the ‘MLA’ sticker, the official told her that it expired in 2018. They also told her that the rule applies only for the minister and not for anyone in the family.

Pulla Rao, who represented the Telugu Desam Party from Chilakaluripet assembly constituency in Guntur district, fought the assembly elections again on April 11. In Andhra Pradesh, strong anti-incumbency, caste and corruption were the major factors that would determine the outcome of the elections to Lok Sabha and the state assembly. This was the first general election in the state after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014.

In 2014, the TDP won 101, YSRC 68, BJP four, Navodayam Party one and an Independent one in the state polls. In Lok Sabha seats, the TDP bagged 15, YSRC eight and BJP two