PCC president Y S Sharmila
Credit: X/@realyssharmila
Y S Sharmila Reddy, the daughter of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and sister of current chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, surprised everyone when she merged YSRTP and joined the Congress party.
She was also given the responsibility of reviving the Congress party in Andhra Pradesh that had thrown the sibling rivalry into the public. She is now contesting from the Kadapa Lok Sabha segment, a pocket borough of the YS family, where she will take on his cousin brother and incumbent MP, YSRCP's Avinash Reddy.
During her campaign in Kadapa, Sharmila, the president of Andhra PCC, told in an interview with DH's SNV Sudhir that she is standing against her own family for justice in the murder of her uncle YS Vivekananda Reddy. She asserted that both Jagan and Sharmila can share their father Dr. YSR's legacy, and that Jagan's government differs from Dr. YSR's, for which he was voted to power in 2019.
Excerpts:
Q. You are pitted against your own brother YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSRCP and also your cousin, YS Avinash Reddy from Kadapa Lok Sabha. How do you feel about it?
A. I am not pitted against by anybody. I feel I am standing against my own family. Because it so happens that my own family is involved in the murder of my own uncle. And my own family, my brothers, Avinash Reddy, the incumbent MP is the one who is accused of this crime. And my own brother (YS Jagan) has decided to field him again. Which I could not digest. And so for justice, I decided to stand against my own family.
Q. How is the response from the public?
A. The response is amazing, I should say. The response is a response to Dr. YSR, I should say. Because all people all across the state also honor me as his daughter. And the people of Kadapa have a special connection with YSR. Therefore, they treat me as their own daughter. So, I have never felt this alien feeling anywhere. So, thank god for it.
Q. But Jagan Mohan Reddy has been saying that he is feeling very bad that you are going to lose deposits in Kadapa. What do you say?
A. If Jagan Mohan Reddy is so sure I will lose, then why is his wife campaigning? Why is all his family campaigning? If they are so confident, then they can happily sit at home, no? Or are they campaigning for Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy? Is Jagan Mohan Reddy afraid that he will lose? And he sent his whole family here? Or he is afraid that Avinash will lose and he sent his whole family here? He should first decide who his family is campaigning for. If he is not afraid, then why is anybody campaigning?
Q. Jagan in his public meetings have been claiming you have become a pawn in the conspiracy by TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and also his once close confidant Telangana chief minister, A Revanth Reddy. Are you a pawn in Naidu's conspiracy?
A. I think Jagan Mohan Reddy is very obsessed with Chandrababu Naidu. Jagan Mohan Reddy sees Chandrababu Nayadu controlling Sharmila. He sees Naidu controlling Sunita (Y S Viveka's daughter). He sees Naidu controlling Revanth, the Chief Minister of a state like himself. He sees Naidu controlling Modi, the Prime Minister of the country also. So I think Jagan is obsessed with Naidu. That's why I recently sent him a mirror and asked him to check his mental state. To see if he sees himself in the mirror or if he sees Naidu in the mirror. I hope he got the hint and he has his mental condition checked. I really hope so. I really am concerned for his well-being.
Q. He has also been saying Congress has broken his family and its the grand old party responsible for the sorry state of affairs of andhra Pradesh like not including special category status in the bifurcation Act etc. What do you say about it?
A. His family is in this condition because of his own doing. Had he given confidence to Sunita, then this family wouldn't have broken up. His own sister who did a pada yatra for him was with him, for him. And he was the one who alienated his sister. His condition is nobody's fault but his own fault. And please let me correct you that it was not Congress who is fielding me anywhere. Because it's not possible for anybody to field YSR's daughter. I am a very strong-willed person and I don't think I can be controlled by anybody. And it was in fact not the Congress that did harm to the YSR family. It was in fact Jagan Mohan Reddy himself. Because recently it came to light that advocate Ponnavolu Sudhakar was the one who had YSR's name included in the Jagan's CBI FIR . He was the one who had YSR's name included in the charge sheet by the CBI. Because CBI's FIR did not contain the name of YSR initially. But Sudhakar, at the behest of Jagan, went to three different courts asking for YSR's name to be included in the CBI charge sheet. Which finally did happen. And later on we saw after Jagan came to power, he made him the additional advocate general of the AP government. So we clearly see that Jagan himself proved the fact that Ponnavolu went to three different courts to include his own father's name in the CBI charge sheet. Because they believe that if YSR's name is not included in the charge sheet, then it will become very difficult for Jagan to get out of these cases. Because I don't see anybody, if it would have been, I would never have made the guy who put my father's name in the CBI charge sheet an additional advocate general. So that itself proves that Jagan did all this himself. When the state was bifurcated, the Congress party was very sure that Andhra Pradesh would not be hurt by this bifurcation. Congress party in fact made sure that the central government is going to give at least funds to the chief minister, which is going to be given in June of Rs 5 lakh crores to Andhra Pradesh, only to make sure that Andhra Pradesh will not be lagging behind in any way compared to the state of Telangana. Had Congress party come back to power in 2014, all those Rs 5 lakh crores would have come to Andhra Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh would have been a different Andhra Pradesh from what it is today. We would have gotten so many industries, we would have gotten the Polavaram project, we would have gotten our capital city by now, we would have gotten the Kadapa steel factory by now, we would have gotten the Dugaraj Patnam port by now. Additionally, we would have gotten special economic packages also for Rayala Seema and North Andhra. We would have developed our ports so much. So many things would have been so different had Congress come back to power in 2014.
So I think the major blow to Andhra Pradesh was not the bifurcation but the tragedy that Congress did not come to power in 2014. But all that said, we are where we are now. Things are not in our control. Congress party lost power. BJP came to power and BJP cheated the people of Andhra Pradesh for 10 years. for 10 years BJP did not give us even one word. One promise that was given to us in this State Reorganization Act. And in spite of BJP cheating us so much, we saw Chandra Babu Naidu for the first 5 years and Jagan Mohan Reddy for the current 5 years. In fact, supporting BJP in every bill and every will and every whim and fancy that BJP lays. So this is my appeal to the people of Andhra Pradesh that the people see through the shallowness of the BJP party, the TDP party and the YSRCP. And that they bless the Congress party because only the Congress party is committed to the cause of special status and the well-being of the people and the youth of Andhra Pradesh.
Q. In your speeches you have been talking about triangle love story. What is that about?
A. So we see the BJP party at the helm of affairs in the nation. So BJP is in power in Delhi. And they have all the power in the country. And therefore, Naidu also wants an alliance with the BJP party for his own benefit. Of course, when somebody is in so much power, then everybody will want a share of that power. So we see here Naidu who is the opposition leader and the government Jagan who is the ruling party, the chief minister also wanting friendship with the BJP party for the same reason that he is in power. Even though the BJP party has not done us even one favor or not favor. The BJP party has to duly give us what we want. It's due to us. It's our right. BJP has not given us anything. And in spite of that, we see Naidu allying with BJP and we see Jagan being the adopted son, Dattaputradu of BJP party. So both of them want the BJP party. Both of them are hanging on to the BJP party. So I see this as a triangular love story where BJP wants to, you know, go hand in hand with TDP and YSRCP.
Q. How do you rate the last five years of Jagan's government on 0 to 10?
A. No, I am nobody to rate. It's the people who will rate. But I can clearly say that when Jagan came to power, he was somehow expected to fill the shoes of our father, Dr YSR. When they were voting for Jagan, they were not voting for YSRCP. They were in fact voting for a government that will come and function similar to Dr YSR's government. Because the YSR's government was very different from what we see now after five years in Jagan Mohan Reddy's government. YSR's government was balanced between welfare and development. To my father, development and welfare were like two eyes. It was like one hand was development, another hand was welfare. So for the people, for the state to prosper, both of them are important. Yes, welfare is important. Nobody is denying that. But development is equally important. Ten years down the line, Jagan is saying that he gave Rs 2,70,000 crores as DBT to the poor people. Okay, fine, you could have. But what about the other Rs 8 lakh crores of debt that you took? What about the money that the exchequer is burdened with? What about all that? And where is the development? You took Rs 8 lakh crores of rupees and still we see no development happening anywhere. We didn't see any of the irrigation projects that Dr YSR left halfway that you said you would complete all of them in Jalayagnam. We did not see you do any of the projects. We did not see you build the capital. We did not see any development. Not even ten industries have come up.
Q. Who is the actual political heir or who is the person who can inherit the political legacy of Dr YSR? Is that Jagan or Sharmila?
A. Dr YSR has two children. And I think both his children are equal to him and I think both of them can be heirs. Doesn't matter if we are in different parties with different ideologies. It's not impossible for both children to be the heirs. I do not like this male chauvinism which says I am the heir, I am the only one. I am gracious enough to say that both of them, both of us can share the legacy. There's nothing like it should be limited to one. My father was so big, so large, so large-hearted. I think it's possible for both of us to make him proud.