Adviser (Public Affairs) and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy has said that Y.S. Sharmila, sister of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, is free to chart her own political course, but everyone knows that her joining the Indian National Congress (INC) is a part of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu’s conspiracy aimed at defeating the YSRCP in the upcoming general elections.
As far as the Congress party’s likely impact on the YSRCP was concerned, Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy, while addressing the media here on January 6, said it was not worthwhile to even speak about the party that had got fewer votes than that polled in the None Of The Above (NOTA) category.
Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy said it was not yet clear in what capacity Ms. Sharmila might come to Andhra Pradesh, and maintained that it was all orchestrated by Mr. Naidu, who was managing the BJP and Jana Sena Party. The Congress party and the TDP had together tried to “nip YSRCP in the bud,” he added.
Mr. Naidu’s meeting with Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar at the Bengaluru airport recenlty, Ms. Sharmila and her husband Anil traveling in BJP Rajya Sabha member C.M. Ramesh’s private jet to Delhi, and TDP leader ‘B.Tech’ Ravi’s courtesy call on Mr. Anil at the Kadapa airport were unmistakable signs of the TDP and Congress party’s game plan to thwart the YSRCP’s bid to retain power.
Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy said the government was forced to invoke the Essential Services and Maintenance Act of 1971 on the services of Anganwadi workers as their strike created an emergency for children aged up to six years, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
The government conceded all but one or two of their demands, and had been polite in its appeal to them to end their nearly month-long strike, but unfortunately they did not budge, he observed.
