Meet YS Sharmila, Andhra CM Jagan Reddy's Sister Who Is Taking On KCR In Telangana

New Delhi: YS Sharmila is a politician from Telangana and the founder-president of the YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP). She is also the sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and the daughter of former Andhra Pradesh CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy and YS Vijayamma. She was the national convener of the Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) before launching her own party. She has been in conflict with the ruling BRS government in Telangana and has been arrested several times for her protests and padyatras. 

Accused Of Assaulting Telangana Cops

YS Sharmila is in the news again after the Hyderabad police on Monday filed a chargesheet against her in a case of assault on police personnel on duty. The police filed the chargesheet in connection with an incident that occurred in April, when She allegedly slapped a policewoman and pushed a male police officer outside her residence. Police arrested and shifted her to Jubilee Hills police station.

She was recently charged with assaulting police officers in Hyderabad in April this year. She slapped a female cop and pushed a male cop outside her house. Her previous arrest in December last year had resulted in dramatic images of her driving her car while it was being towed away. Sharmila was arrested and brought back to Hyderabad from Warangal district, where she was holding her padyatra, in a similar incident in November 2022. Clashes erupted between YSRTP and BRS members after members of the ruling party allegedly burned down a caravan she was using for rest.

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Sharmila's Connection To Padayatras

Sharmila has followed the footsteps of her father and brother in undertaking long padyatras across the state. She completed the Praja Prasthanam Padayatra, a 4,000 km walkathon in March this year, covering 83 assembly segments, 65 municipalities, 2,185 villages, and five municipal corporations in about 255 days. She had also done a 3,000 km Padayatra in 2012-2013 when her brother was in jail. She campaigned for him in the by-elections and later in the 2019 elections, which he won.

First Innings In Politics

Prior to June 2012, Sharmila had never been into the rough and tumble of politics. That year, she campaigned for her brother, who was in jail in connection with a dozen assets cases. 

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In the absence of Jagan, president of YSRCP, Sharmila campaigned for the by-polls to 18 Assembly and one Lok Sabha constituency in Andhra Pradesh. The YSRCP had won 15 Assembly seats and the Nellore Lok Sabha constituency in the polls.

Back then, she had launched a 3,000-km walkathon -- Maro Praja Prasthanam – which was a reflection of her late father’s 1,600-km long padayatra in 2003.

Split With Brother Jagan Reddy

She returned to politics in 2019 with an 11-day bus yatra for the YSRCP ahead of the 2019 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. The YSRCP won a landslide victory in the elections that year.

Sharmila had political differences with her brother Jagan after he became the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh and sidelined her and her mother. She decided to form her own party, YSRTP, in Telangana on July 8 this year, which is her father's birth anniversary. 

Since the formation of her party, she has been highlighting issues such as unemployment, corruption, and misgovernance in Telangana. She also went on a hunger strike at Dharna Chowk in Hyderabad and visited the families of youths who committed suicide due to lack of jobs. She paid homage to the Telangana martyrs memorial in Hyderabad as well.