Sharmila takes over as APCC chief, declares war on Jagan, Naidu, calls them puppets of BJP

VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee’s new chief YS Sharmila Reddy branded the ruling YSRCP and the opposition Telugu Desam as puppets of the BJP and said that every vote to these parties would only help the BJP to rule the State in proxy. However, she made no mention of the Jana Sena party led by Pawan Kalyan.

Earlier, Sharmila took over as the APCC chief here at Ahvanam Kalyanamantapam in Kanuru on Sunday. Gidugu Rudraraju the outgoing president handed over the appointment issued by the AICC and a Congress party flag to her as a token of handing over of charge.

Addressing party workers, she said that her father YS Rajasekhara Reddy was a two-time APCC chief and also became Chief Minister of the state twice. “Now Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Mallikarjun Kharge have reposed faith in me. I thank the Congress leadership and people of Andhra Pradesh,” he said.

She said that the TDP and YSRCP Governments that ruled the State for over a decade only created a huge dent in the State’s economy. “The debt now stands as over 10 lakh crore. Have you seen any development, where is the State capital, where is the metro rail for Vijayawada,” she wanted to know. She said that in ten years the consecutive Governments failed to get at least 10 major industries to the State.

“The state of roads in the State is bad, there were no new jobs, and the Government is unable to pay timely salaries to its employees. The only thing that flourished was the sand, liquor, and mining mafia. But the atrocities on Dalits increased by 100 percent,” the APCC chief pointed out.

Stressing the need for special status for the State, she said that Uttarakhand attracted Rs 2,000 crore in investments and Himachal Pradesh could attract 10,000 industries with the help of special Status.

“When Congress demanded special status to AP for five years, BJP demanded for 10 years and former CM Nara Chandrababu Naidu demanded 15 years. At that time Jagan Mohan Reddy was an opposition leader and after becoming CM he stopped asking for special status,” she said adding that her brother could not even get a package from the Centre.

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Criticising Jagan and Naidu for rendering the State even without a permanent capital, she said that while Naidu wasted time with 3D graphics, Jagan further complicated the issue with the proposal of three capitals. “Today we don’t know which is our State’s capital. What happened to the Polavaram project? My father started the project in 2014 and completed the canal work. After YSR's death the project didn’t move forward,” she observed.

Coming heavily on BJP she said that the bonhomie of the YSRCP and the TDP with the BJP failed to yield even one lakh jobs for the unemployed youth of the State. “All the 25 MPs from AP and 6 Rajya Sabha MPs are all BJP’s proxy MPs,” she said.

Sharmila expressed anger over the systematic ethnic cleansing of Christians in the northeastern State of Manipur she said her brother YS Jagan Mohan Reddy being a Christian never uttered a single word against the BJP. She recalled that her father had always opposed the BJP.

“Calling the Congress a true inheritor of her father’s legacy, she called upon the people to join hands with her in her fight against the BJP.

Later Mangalagiri YSRCP MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy and his followers joined the Congress in her presence. Political affairs members, coordination committee members, DCC presidents AICC, APCC members, AICC secretary AP Incharge CD Meyyappan and Christopher Tilak, former APCC chief Sailajanath, former Minister Raghuveera Reddy, and former Union Minister Pallam Raju were also present at the meeting.