Sharmila To Launch Padayatra From Chevella

YSR Telangana Party founder Y S Sharmila today announced that she would soon launch a padayatra from the Chevella assembly constituency, the same place from which her late father, former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, had started a similar march in 2003.

(YSR had embarked on a 60-day march from Chevella, that had covered about 1,500 km, in order to highlight the problem of drought in the region.)

Talking to the media about why she had founded her party, Sharmila explained that she had done so not for personal gain but because there was a "need" to do so to ensure the wellbeing of the people of Telangana.

"People in Telangana are currently facing injustice under the rule of the KCR regime. CM K Chandrashekar Rao has never even taken the urgent issue of the Krishna water conflict seriously. I wonder why he has not felt the need to attend the meetings convened by the Centre on the matter. My party and I will, unlike him, ensure that not a single drop of water that is rightfully Telangana's is taken away from us. Further, the CM who always talks about empowering women, is the head of a party that would never consent to fielding a woman candidate for the post of even sarpanch," she alleged.

Continuing her attack on the TRS regime, the leader criticised the state government for its "apathy" towards the unemployed youth in the state and asked IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao what he was doing to reduce joblessness. She also urged him to release job notifications immediately.

Sharmila then reiterated that Telangana was "her soil" and that her party would always fight for the people of the state. She took the opportunity to also clarify that she and her brother, incumbent AP CM Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, represented two different states and that they were confined to working for the people in their respective states.

Talking about her father, the leader refuted the claims that he had been an "anti-Telangana" leader, and asked YSR's detractors to visit the villages of the state to enquire from the people what his treatment of them had really been like.