Politician Y S Sharmila today went on a hunger strike near Indira Park in Hyderabad to protest against the TRS government's failure to issue job notifications for the filling of the vacant posts in Telangana's government departments. She had made clear her intention to take up the issue in a big way at her recently concluded
Sankalpa Sabha in Khammam.
Speaking on the occasion, she launched a scathing attack on Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and asked him how he could remain so unaffected by the suicides of scores of Telangana's unemployed youth, and added, "Many young people have been driven to suicide since they could not find stable means of livelihood. Their inability to support their families pushed them to take such a drastic step. Yet, the KCR regime seems to be in no hurry to address the rising unemployment in Telangana. Does the CM have a heart of stone? When one out of every three government job posts is currently vacant in the state, many youths should be able to find jobs. But this will only be possible if the CM take steps to initiate the recruitment process for the same at the earliest."
The leader also strongly articulated her demand that the government issue the relevant job notifications without any further delay to flag off its efforts to address unemployment.
She caused quite a stir when she announced that she would continue her hunger strike for three days though she only had permission to do so for one day. However, her plans to continue her protest were thwarted when she was taken into custody after breaching the time limit set by the police. She was taken to the Begumpet Women's Police Station.
Though Sharmila is yet to launch her party, she has found many supporters in the followers of her father, former Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Rajasekhar Reddy. They also staged several demonstrations across Telangana today. Prominent Dalit rights activist and political theorist Kancha Ilaiah and leaders of many BC organisations also backed the hunger strike.
While the protest program found a large number of supporters, Sharmila did get into a spat with the media persons covering the hunger strike. Sources say that some reporters, including a handful from a media house owned by the YSR Congress Party, were blocking her way to the protest site which caused her to lash out at them. After they kept pestering her, she reportedly said, "I think that’s enough coverage, don't you? As it is, you will not telecast this on your channel."
Though her mother, Y S Vijayamma, did try to restrain her, Sharmila's outburst today has left no doubt in the minds of the public regarding the decisive nature of her fallout with her brother incumbent AP CM Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.