Officially announcing her entry into politics, late Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s (YSR) daughter, YS Sharmila, has announced that her party will be launched in Telangana on July 8. The announcement was made on Friday in Khammam, during the ‘Sankalpa Sabha.’
While her brother Andhra Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy stayed away from the meeting, Sharmila’s mother Vijayamma participated in it. Terming the rule of YSR as a golden period, she sought the blessings of her father's supporters in her political journey. Contrary to speculations her mother did not approve of her entry into politics in Telangana, Vijayamma said, “I was very happy when she said that she was going to launch her own party.”
Ahead of the party’s launch, Sharmila has intensified her campaign against the TRS government by announcing a three-day hunger strike from April 15, demanding the government to issue 1.90 lakh job notifications and fill up the vacant posts immediately. If the government still fails in issuing the notification, her supporters across the state will go on a relay hunger strike, Sharmila said.
Rejecting speculations that she is an arrow from the quiver of TRS or the BJP, she said, “I am an arrow released by the people. I did not come because of TRS, BJP or the Congress. I am coming for the welfare of the people. My party will not work under any of the parties.”
Slamming the Opposition parties for being incompetant, and alleging that their opposition to the government was a ‘charade’, Sharmila said that the principal opposition party Congress has turned into a ‘MLA supplying company’- referring to the Congress MLAs defecting to TRS fold. “The Congress won’t talk because they are sold out,” she alleged.
Making similar scathing remarks against the BJP, she said, “If the BJP talks, they only make communally provocative remarks. It just means that they do not have anything to talk about the development under their rule.” Sharmila added.
“What happened to the BJP’s promise of establishing a rail coach factory in Kazipet and setting up a Turmeric board?” she asked.
To criticism of her being an ‘outsider’, she asserted, “Whether someone likes it or not, I am 100% Telangana’s daughter. I have breathed this air, been brought up on this land. My daughter and son were born here. So, how is it wrong to show gratitude to this land and work for the welfare of people here?”
Another criticism against her political ambitions, was about her loyalty to Telangana, and if she would fight for Telangana’s right to water, considering her brother YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is the Chief Minister of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh state.
Both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have locked their horns over the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation project, which the former alleges as an “illegal” project. Responding to this, she said, “I will see that Telangana does not lose a single drop of water. I will fight to stop the projects which deprive Telangana of water.”