Brother Anil, the husband of YS Sharmila and well-known evangelist, said that he has nothing to do with his wife’s political party. He said he has no relation with the party and that he would not speak on the political party of his wife.

When asked about his wife’s political plans, Bro. Anil, who was in Vijayawada to attend a private function, said that he has no connection with the political activities of his life. He parried questions relating to his wife’s politics and said that he has no interest in politics. He did not say yes or no to any question and avoided reply.

The media asked questions about YS Sharmila’s supposed tiff with sibling YS Jagan. But, Bro. Anil chose not to speak about it . It is being reported that Jagan and Sharmila had an open verbal duel about her political career and sharing of her father’s assets. In the heat of the arguments, she reportedly flew into a rage and said that she would enter into AP politics and work for Jagan’s defeat.

Later, she cryptically told the media that she can set up her party anywhere in the country. There is no rule that prevents me from setting up a political party in AP, she said. Brother Anil, who met mediapersons on Monay too did not give away anything. He merely said that he has no interest in politics.

YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) President Y.S. Sharmila said on Monday that growing paddy is the right of farmers and that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao can’t dictate to them what crops to cultivate.

As part of her ‘Rythu Avedana Yatra’, she called on families of two farmers and consoled them in Kamareddy district. While one farmer had died of cardiac arrest while waiting at a paddy procurement centre, the other committed suicide as his paddy was allegedly not procured by authorities.

Sharmila, sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, visited the house of Chinna Beeraiah in Ilapur village in Lingampet mandal and consoled the family The farmer recently died while waiting for his paddy to be procured by authorities at IKP Centre.

The YSRTP leader also visited Yellareddy in Sadashiv Nagar and consoled the family of M. Yadaiah who committed suicide as his paddy was not procured.

She blamed Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government for the deaths of farmers. “It’s shameful that they are killing the farmers and also staging dharnas,” she said referring to the protests organised by the TRS across the state to demand the Centre to lift the entire paddy from the state.

Sharmila also blamed the TRS government for the plight of farmers in the state. Reacting to the appeal by the state government to farmers not to cultivate paddy during the coming Rabi season, she stated that growing paddy is the right of farmers. She asked farmers to cultivate paddy.

The daughter of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy said if necessary, she will go on indefinite fast to force the government to procure paddy. “I will fight for the rights of farmers till my death,” she said.

Sharmila, who consoled the families of two farmers in Medak district on Sunday, alleged that Chandrasekhar Rao is responsible for suicides by scores of farmers.

She said the Chief Minister was confusing farmers by shifting his stance on a regular basis. “Sometime he says he will procure paddy till the last grain and sometimes he asks farmers not to go for paddy cultivation. How many times will he change his stance?” she asked.

Claiming that 200 farmers committed suicide during last 70 days, she demanded Rs 25 lakh ex gratia each to the families of these farmers.

She claimed that she would usher in the Rajanna Rajyam in Telangana. But, months into her campaign, YS Sharmila is already reduced to a joke. The people are cracking jokes on her bombastic claims and her loud-mouth comments. There is a general complaint that her political activities are not inspiring any confidence in the people. Social media is trolling her to no end.

It has been six months since she started her party, the YSRTP. But, within six months, the fizz is gone and the pep is missing in the party. The confidence levels too have come down. The crowds that bustled outside the party office have simply vanished. The issues she is seeking to raise are finding a resonance with the people of Telangana at large. There are no joinings in the party these days.

Moreover, she is finding it difficult to answer questions about her inactivity during the Telangana movement. She is being asked as to what she did while the youth of Telangana were spearheading movements. She is not only evasive replies, but is also feeling uncomfortable tackling the media.

YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) president Y. S. Sharmila on Saturday began a protest in Hyderabad to show solidarity with the state’s farmers over the paddy procurement issue.

Demanding that the state government procure the entire paddy, she sat on the protest at Indira Park in the heart of the city.

Interestingly, leaders of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had staged the protest at the same venue on Friday, demanding the Centre to lift paddy from the state.

She has announced a 72-hour protest. However, the police permitted protest at Indira Park from morning to evening. YSRTP leaders said she would continue the protest for the remaining hours at her party office-cum-residence at Lotus Pond.

Sharmila, who is Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s sister, said that it is the responsibility of the TRS government to procure the entire produce of farmers.

Criticising Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for not coming to the rescue of farmers, she demanded that the government expedite the procurement during the ongoing season.

On the state government advising farmers not to grow paddy and go for alternate crops, Sharmila said the government should give them the guarantee that it will supply the required seeds and fertilisers and procure the entire produce.

She alleged that 36 lakh farmers in the state were not benefited from farm loan waiver announced by the Telangana government.

The YSRTP leader stopped her ongoing Praja Prasthanam Padyatra temporarily from Wednesday in view of the election code of conduct for elections to the Legislative Council.

She had launched the walkathon last month to expose the failures of the state government on various fronts and to interact with people about their problems.

Politics is an extremely tough game and YSRTP chief YS Sharmila is earning this dictum very fast. The launch of her yatra from Chevella was a shocker for her. She wanted the launch to be a glittering affair with a huge turnout of people. She told her party workers to mobilise the crowds in big numbers.

But on the day of the launch of the yatra, the total attendance was around five thousand people. This was a huge disappointment for YS Sharmila. Seeing disappointment writ all over her face, the party leaders had to make contingency arrangements and rush in an additional crowd. They had to go to the points where daily wagers congregate and bring them in.

As a result, the yatra started behind schedule. The leaders waited for the hired crowd to be brought in and then launched the yatra. However, to the credit of Sharmila, she recovered her composure soon. She went through the rigours. Her mother YS Vijayamma was there to pat her on the back and bless her yatra.

Sharmila is said to have told the party workers not to get disappointed by the low turnout. She told them to learn from the mistake committed in the launch programme and ensure that the mistakes were not repeated. Sharmila’s yatra will go on for 400 days and will cover 4000 km. It will begin and end at Chevella, which her father late YSR considered auspicious for him.

Now that the YSR memorial meeting called by YS Vijayamma failed thoroughly in benefiting YS Sharmila, the YRP is now working on other strategies to ensure some political relevance for YS Sharmila’s YSRCP. Despite Shamila’s claims that she is Telangana’s daughter-in-law, no one seems to take her claims seriously.

As if to put a question mark on her claims, almost 99 per cent of those who attended the memorial meet called by YS Vijayamma were of Andhra origin. This has actually turned out to be counter-productive. Also, Vijayamma’s claim that the meet was not-political was belied by the political undertones in the gathering. Another major factor is the near total absence of active politicians. Only Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, AP Jitender Reddy and Kuna Srisailam Goud are active in politics. The others are retired politicians, ex-bureaucrats, who are not much of use for Sharmila.

On the other hand, her attempts to stage protests on the issue of unemployment too are not paying any dividend. Even the families of those who have committed suicide for not getting a job, appear not interested in joining hands with her. Two families locked their homes and went away before Sharmila came. Yet others refused her entry into their house. Now she has changed her tactic and began staging dharnas in front of the universities. On Tuesday, she staged a protest in front of the Palamoor University.

The attendance at her protests was meagre and not many party leaders turned up for the protest. The media did not show any interest in her protest. The programme turned out to be a non-starter. If the same trend continues, this protest too could be abandoned soon.