Sharmila to resume padyatra after Sankranti

YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) President Y.S. Sharmila on Wednesday announced that she will resume her Praja Prasthanam Yatra after Sankranti.

A day after the Telangana High Court allowed her to resume the yatra, she told media persons that she will launch the second phase of her walkathon next month as doctors have advised her to rest for three weeks.

The padyatra was stopped abruptly on November 28 after an alleged attack by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) workers in Warangal district.

The court, however, asked Sharmila to abide by the conditions imposed earlier while allowing her to resume the walkathon.

She claimed that her 3,500 km long padayatra was accomplished but Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao tried to create problems.

“His goons attacked me and my activists and created law and order issues, but I was arrested in turn. My hunger strike was interrupted and they enforced curfew in the vicinity. They didn’t even let me go to the court. When asked they pass the buck on to their higher officials,” she said.

She announced that her YSRTP would be filing a case against the police in the court. Sharmila alleged that “the draconian government is shooting on the shoulders of the cops”.

Slamming KCR, she said that he has no moral right to speak about Telangana. “KCR is full of deception, backstabbing and only uses the sentiment and emotions of the people for his political whims and fancies,” she said.

Sharmila alleged that KCR ditched the parties he tied up with and stoked the Telangana sentiment only because he was denied a ministerial berth.

She also attacked KCR’s daughter K. Kavitha and termed her a glorious personification of corruption. In the name of Bathukamma, she has ditched the trust of Telangana people and has brought disgrace, having been named in the liquor scam, Sharmila said.

The sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy confirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to her over phone. She, however, said the call was personal.

The PM telephoned her on December 6 to enquire about the incidents that took place at Warangal and Hyderabad.

BRS workers had allegedly set afire her bus and pelted stones on other vehicles in Warangal district on November 28. Later, police arrested Sharmila as she refused to call off the padyatra in view of the tense situation in the area.

Sharmila was later shifted to Hyderabad. The next day, she was arrested again amid high drama while leading a protest march towards the Chief Minister’s official residence. She was driving a car damaged in the attack and wanted to stage a protest in front of the Chief Minister’s residence. The police, however, stopped her enroute. When she refused to come out of the car, the police towed it away to a police station.