Kothapalli Geetha, BJP's Controversial Candidate From Araku Constituency
Kothapalli Geetha is a prominent name in Andhra Pradesh’s political landscape. She started her political career in 2010, after resigning from her duty as a Deputy Collector. She is not unfamiliar with the Araku constituency, from which she was fielded by BJP. In 2014, she contested from the constituency on YSRCP (Yuvajan Shramika Rythu Congress Party), and won. She was fielded as a Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidate.
In 2018, she left YSRCP, and formed Jana Jagruthi Party. The party’s said aim was to abolish caste politics in Andhra Pradesh. During the 2019 Lok Sabha election, her party contested in some of the assembly constituencies of the state, but could mark victory in any of the seats. Geetha herself contested from Visakapattanam, but could only win barely 1158 votes.
In the same year, she joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. few years into joining BJP, a CBI Special Court convicted Geetha and her husband in a bank fraud case and sentenced them for five years in jail. She was released only on March 2024, after a Telangana High Court suspended her conviction. The clearing of the conviction has paved way for Geetha to contest in election.
Notably, in January 2024, the Andhra Pradesh government said that Geetha does not belong to the Scheduled Tribe community. The controversy regarding her caste first surfaced during the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Reportedly, the certificate claiming her to be from the Valmiki Tribe was issued by then collector of East Godavari. In January 2024, the Andhra Pradesh High Court stayed the government order cancelling the caste certificate that recognised her as a person from a Scheduled Tribe.
Notably, the Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a charge sheet against Geetha, her husband, and three others for alleged criminal conspiracy to defraud a branch of Punjab National Bank (PNB) in Hyderabad for up to Rs 42 crore. However, the Telangana High Court has stayed the five-year jail sentence awarded to them in the Punjab National Bank loan fraud case by CBI court and granted them bail.
