E-Paper
Sharmila begins padayatra, aims to end TRS rule
Addressing the rally, Sharmila, sister of YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, said she had embarked on a marathon padayatra only to end the arrogant and dictatorial rule of KCR, as the chief minister of Telangana is known.
YSR Telangana party president Y S Sharmila on Wednesday kick-started her marathon padayatra (foot march), which, she said, is aimed at ending the autocratic rule of Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao and bringing back “Rajanna Rajyam,” the welfare state envisioned by her father late YS Rajasekhar Reddy.
Sharmila’s mother Y S Vijayalakshmi flagged off the padayatra, after a massive public rally at Chevella town in Ranga Reddy district, a place which had been sentimentally attached to her father. It was from this town that YSR took up his “Praja Prasthanam” padayatra for over 1500 km across the combined Andhra Pradesh in 2003 and brought the Congress party to power in the 2004 assembly elections.
Vijayalakshmi said only Sharmila could make the Bangaru Telangana (golden Telangana) a reality. “My daughter has the courage and commitment to fulfil the aspirations of the people and dreams of late YSR,” she said and appealed to the people to bless her daughter.
Addressing the rally, Sharmila, sister of YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, said she had embarked on a marathon padayatra only to end the arrogant and dictatorial rule of KCR, as the chief minister of Telangana is known.
“Today, I am taking the first step towards heralding a welfare state in Telangana and dethroning the dynastic rule of the TRS. I shall touch every village and meet every villager during my journey,” she said.
Taking a vow to expose the alleged corruption at all levels of the TRS government, Sharmila said KCR is the worst chief minister of any state in the country. “He has pushed the revenue surplus state into a debt-ridden state with indiscriminate borrowings,” she said.
“Hundreds of the educated unemployed youth have died by suicide due to lack of employment opportunities, and many others turned into daily wage workers. Though official records say there are 190,000 vacancies in the state, the TRS government has not issued a single job notification so far,” she further said.
Sharmila also accused the TRS government of neglecting the weaker sections. “KCR announced that he would make a Dalit as the first chief minister of Telangana after TRS came to power in 2014. He also promised three acres of land to each Dalit family. But he did not fulfil even a single promise. On the contrary, atrocities on Dalits have gone up during the TRS regime. He also has not done anything for OBCs,” she said.
She also took the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party to task for failing to take on the corrupt TRS government. “Present Telangana Congress president A Revanth Reddy has no guts to fight against the government, as he was involved in the cash-for-vote scandal. The BJP is hand in glove with the TRS and has not been able to prove the cases against KCR,” she said.
Sharmila hopes to break all the records as part of her walkathon. YSRTP official spokesman Tudi Devender Reddy said as per the route map, she would undertake padayatra for nearly 4,000 kilometres across the length and breadth of Telangana in 14 months, covering 90 assembly constituencies. “On average, she will walk for about 12-15 km a day,” Reddy said.
The previous record in padayatras is held by her brother Jagan Mohan Reddy. He walked for a distance of 3,648 km over 341 days starting from November 6, 2017, to January 9, 2019, in the name of “Praja Sankalpa Yatra,” and came to power in April 2019 assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh.
On the first day, Sharmila would walk for a distance of 10 km from Chevella and take the night halt at Nakkalapalli village. “Every day, she will start the padayatra at 8.30 am and take a break at 12.30 pm. She will resume the walk at 3 pm and conclude at 6 pm,” the party spokesman said.
After the padayatra, she will conduct a “Mata Muchata” (chit-chat) programme at one place, where she would sit with villagers for some time and interact with them to know their problems.
The programme schedule and route map for her padayatra are being handled by a team of the Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC) of political strategist Prashant Kishor. “She is expected to touch at least three blocks in each assembly constituency. In all, she would address nine big public meetings,” the party spokesman said.
