TDP MLA and government whip Chintamaneni Prabhakar found himself at the centre of yet another controversy after he allegedly slapped a person belonging to the Kapu community at Hanuman Junction in Andhra Pradesh.
According to reports, the entire incident began as Prabhakar was passing through Hanuman Junction, a town which lies on the border of Krishna and West Godavari Districts.
In the town, the legislator noticed a torn poster of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on an RTC bus.
Angered by Naidu's face being torn from the poster, the MLA got into a heated debate with the driver of the bus. When a passerby tried to intervene, Prabhakar allegedly slapped him.
Local YSRCP activists immediately began agitating over the incidents and demanded that the TDP MLA must be arrested.
As things escalated, the police stepped in to avoid any untoward incidents and restored normalcy in the area.
Chintamaneni Prabhakar is no stranger to controversy and is presently on bail, after a local magistrate, in February this year, sentenced him to two years imprisonment along with a fine of Rs. 1,000 on charges of assaulting former Minister Vatti Vasant Kumar in 2011.
The Denduluru legislator from West Godavari district is also the government whip in the Legislative Assembly.
The magistrate court imposed a six-month jail term on Prabhakar and a fine of Rs 1,000 under Section 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the IPC in one case and a two-year jail term and another fine of Rs 1,000 under Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC in another case.
In May last year, the MLA made news for allegedly assaulting and verbally abusing police officials while they were on duty.
The 46-year-old MLA was irked at the police for diverting heavy vehicles to avoid congestion at Gundugolanu Junction in West Godavari district, and had also physically assaulted one police official.
A case was registered against Prabhakar in Denduluru police station under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (attacking a public servant and deterring him from carrying out public duty) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.