In a political showdown in Andhra Pradesh, state Congress chief YS Sharmila Reddy.
Who is the sister of YSRCP leader and chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, said on Thursday that she stayed at the Congress office to escape the government’s alleged attempt to house-arrest her.
A viral video shows her lying on a cot on the floor of the party’s Vijayawada office. This came a day after she led Congress workers during the party’s Chalo Secretariat protest.
The Congress has called the protest to seek redressal of alleged problems being faced by unemployed youth and students.
On Wednesday, speaking to the media at Andhra Ratna Bhavan in Vijayawada, YS Sharmila said Jagan Mohan Reddy had utterly failed in addressing important issues of youth, unemployed and students in the last five years.
She later claimed on X that there were attempts to house-arrest her.
“If we call for protest on behalf of the unemployed, will you try to keep us under house arrest? Don’t we have the right to protest in a democracy? Is it not shameful that as a woman I have been forced to evade the police and spend the night in the Congress Party office to avoid house arrest?” she wrote on X.
On Thursday, she claimed thousands of policemen had surrounder her.
“Thousands of policemen were placed around us. Iron fences have been put up and we have been held hostage. If we stand on the side of the unemployed, they are arresting us. You are dictators who are trying to stop us. Your actions are proof of this. YCP Sarkar should apologize to the unemployed,” he added.
Lok Sabha MP Manickam Tagore accused Jagan Mohan Reddy of having what he called a dictatorial attitude.
“Standing up against Jagan’s arrogance and standing for democracy, Joining YS Sharmila and countless others in condemning the unjust behavior of Jagan’s police for the suppression of democratic rights against advocates for the unemployed. It’s time to uphold the fundamental principles of democracy and respect the right to peaceful protest” Manickam Tagore posted on X.
YS Sharmila joined the Congress on January 4. Within weeks, she was elevated as the party’s state chief.
Before that, after an apparent fall out with brother YS Jagan Reddy, Sharmila was heading the YSR Telangana Party, which she had floated on July 8, 2021.
After becoming the Congress chief in Andhra Pradesh, she accused Reddy of throwing development on the proverbial backseat.
“There has been a steep increase in atrocities on Dalits. Mining and sand mafia are ruling the roost,” she had told Congress workers.
“Even Jagan, who raised a hue and cry over the special category status to AP, has not bothered to take up any movement against the Centre for denying the same,” she had added.