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Andhra Pradesh: Sharmila may contest LS polls from Kadapa against cousin
Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president, Y S Sharmila, will take on her cousin and sitting YSR Congress party MP, YS Avinash Reddy, in the Kadapa parliamentary constituency in Lok Sabha polls
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president, Y S Sharmila, will take on her cousin and sitting YSR Congress party MP, Y S Avinash Reddy, in the Kadapa parliamentary constituency for the ensuing general elections, a Congress party functionary familiar with the matter said.
Senior Congress leader and MP Rahul Gandhi asked Sharmila to get ready to contest from Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency, when she met him in Mumbai on Sunday to express solidarity to him on the completion of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.
“Sharmila has agreed in principle. She is presently discussing with the party leaders back in Andhra Pradesh and will take a final call, before the central election committee of the All-India Congress Committee finalises the list of candidates for Andhra Pradesh on March 25,” the party functionary said.
Avinash Reddy’s name was announced as the YSRCP candidate for Kadapa for the third consecutive time by party president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who released the list of candidates for all the 175 assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
If Sharmila’s name is officially announced by the Congress, it would be an interesting battle within her family for the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat. While Sharmila is Jagan’s own sister, Avinash is their close cousin. Avinash’s father Y S Bhaskar Reddy is a cousin of Jagan and Sharmila’s father, former chief minister late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy – all from Pulivendula town of Kadapa district.
In fact, Kadapa has been the bastion of YSR family. It was represented by Rajasekhar Reddy was a four-time MP from Kadapa and was succeeded by his younger brother Y S Vivekananda Reddy between 2004 and 2009. Later, Jagan Mohan Reddy represented the seat twice – in 2009 and 2011. He was succeeded by Avinash Reddy in 2014 and 2019.
Avinash and his father Bhaskar Reddy have been facing charges of conspiring the murder of Vivekananda Reddy in March 2019 at his residence in Pulivendula and have been named as the accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Ever since Sharmila was appointed as the PCC chief on January 16, she has been adopting an aggressive stand against her brother at her all public meetings and press conferences, accusing him of ignoring the development in the state, not completing any major projects including Polavaram irrigation project, destroying Amaravati capital city and not filling up job vacancies.
The PCC chief has been strongly supporting Dr N Sunitha, daughter of Vivekananda Reddy, in the latter’s fight for justice in her father’s murder case. At the fifth death anniversary held at Kadapa, Sharmila accused Jagan of protecting the accused in the Viveka murder case.
“Everybody knows who was behind the murder. Yet, Jagan did not take any action against them. Instead of standing by the side of Viveka’s family members, Jagan is instigating his party leaders to blame Sunitha and her family for the murder. YSR has done a lot for his brothers; and what has Jagan, who claims to be YSR’s successor, has done to his cousins?” she asked.
Both Sharmila and Sunitha called upon the people of the state to vote against the YSRCP in the coming elections and pull down Jagan from power, so that Viveka’s soul would rest in peace.
