Sharmila targets Andhra CM over Viveka murder
Vivekananda Reddy was hacked to death by an axe at his residence in Pulivendula in Kadapa district on the intervening night of March 14 and 15, 2019
Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president Y S Sharmila on Friday accused her brother and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy of protecting the accused in the brutal murder of her uncle and former minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy five years ago.
Vivekananda Reddy, also known as Viveka, was the younger brother of Jagan’s father Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and former chief minister of combined Andhra Pradesh . He was hacked to death by an axe at his residence in Pulivendula in Kadapa district on the intervening night of March 14 and 15, 2019.
At a memorial meeting conducted at Kadapa on the fifth death anniversary of Viveka, Sharmila said all the evidences gathered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) pointed an accusing finger at her own relatives, but they were able to get away without punishment even after five years, only due to protection given by her brother.
She recalled that hours after Viveka was hacked to death, the accused sought to project it as a heart-attack. “Even Jagan’s own media house, in its initial report, said it was a natural death. Only after I came to Pulivendula did I come to know that my uncle was murdered. Now, everybody knows who was behind the murder. Yet, there was no action against them and the case has not made any progress,” she said.
“Instead of standing by the side of Viveka’s family members, the YSRCP leaders were making allegations against them. Jagan should stand before a mirror and question his conscience as to what he is doing is right or wrong. My father 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.
Sharmila asserted that she would stand by Viveka’s daughter Dr N Sunitha till she got justice in her father’s death. “I will be her strength and weapon in her fight for securing punishment for the real culprits in Viveka’s murder. Our struggle is not for power or property. We are fighting for justice, ,” she said.
She appealed to the people to stand by the truth and justice and teach a fitting lesson to those who were protecting the killers of Viveka.
Sharing her trauma in the last five years, Sunitha said her father had always encouraged Jagan in politics and wanted to see him as the chief minister. “When we were all in a state of shock after my father’s death, Jagan became the chief minister and we expected that he would take initiative in getting stringent punishment to the accused in the murder. But till date, he has been protecting the accused,” she regretted.
Alleging that the YSRCP leaders sought to blame her family for conspiring in the murder, Sunitha wanted to know why Jagan had not taken steps to arrest her. “How can you, being in the government, make false allegations against your own cousins? If you have any evidence on my role in the murder, give it to the CBI, instead of making wild allegations,” she said.
The YSRCP leaders haven’t yet reacted to Sharmila and Sunitha’s comments.
