Retired IAS and BJP candidate for Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency in the by-election, Rathna Prabha, is again in fresh news with regard to her caste.
Her rivals are digging into her religious connections and trying to establish that she is a Christian.
As Scheduled Caste Christian, Rathna Prabha would be BC (C) and not an SC as per the Presidential Order of 1950.
Her rivals have brought out a prayer intimation card of her mother-in-law Gona Navamani who died in 2007.
The family had conducted a prayer service in her memory where the names of her sons and daughters-in-law were prominently published.
A person called, A V Ramana, from Hyderabad, was booked under SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 by Rathna Prabha and her family in 2012.
Ramana, a native of Miyapur, contested the case against him stating that Rathna Prabha is not an SC and her SC certificate holds no value.
He had also produced some documental and pictorial evidence to establish her religion and argued that she is BC-C and not SC.
Her rivals are surprisingly, campaigning on these issues, to beat her in the Tirupati election campaign.
The rivals are also questioning the BJP for accepting a Christian as its candidate and the BJP leaders would have to answer these questions.
It is to be seen if the BJP leadership would answer the Christian background of its candidate or Rathna Prabha herself would answer them.
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