What are Jagan's daughters, Harsha and Varsha, doing?

HYDERABAD: Leading an unassuming life is indeed a Herculean task for celebrity children. Wards of people in high offices find it even more difficult to maintain a diametrically opposite low profile, if not stay anonymous, hiding their family lineage.

Without beating around the bush, let us straight get into the story.

Who is Ms Harsha Reddy? And who is Ms Varsha Reddy? They are the granddaughters of the late Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Rajasekhara Reddy. And, of course, the bundles of joy of YS Bharati and YS Jaganmohan Reddy, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. The two girls have proved that they are more mature for their age, as they are reluctant to flaunt the fact that their granddad was the Chief Minister and their father is the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

They are actually not hiding behind anything or remaining incognito. But, the way they were reared is such that they actually realised the rough and tumble of life with that status during the process of growing up. The young minds witnessed the zenith of the popularity of their grandfather; and the fall and rise of their father and the associated undulations of life.

Now, what about them? Ms Harsha is in the news as she would be taking her postgraduate degree from Insead Business School in Fontainebleau in France. She is currently working in a software company. Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy and his wife Bharathi would be attending the graduation ceremony of their eldest daughter Ms Harsha Reddy on July 2, 2022.

Their younger daughter Ms Varsha Reddy is studying at a university in Notre Dame, Indiana, USA.

The family kept the details of the children largely under wraps and they too are not boisterous or boastful to flaunt the position of their grandfather earlier and their dad, now.

In fact, Ms. Harsha obtained a degree from the prestigious London School of Economics (LSE) in UK and later joined INSEAD Business School in France.

The two girls, who were studious and good at academics, were very close to Dr Rajasekhara Reddy. Sources close to the family say that Dr Reddy used to present them with books of many genres and thus they developed an interest in reading.

Jagan has taken every care to ensure that the various challenges he has been facing in his political career do not cast their shadow on the children. The two girls were rattled when they learned through national media about the cases Jagan was fighting and broke down whenever they had called him up.

Jagan was incarcerated on May 27, 2012 and was released on bail on September 23, 2013. Ms Bharathi took care of the daughters and tried to comfort them during the excruciating period by keeping them away, in a hostel, from the information, misinformation and vilification campaigns to the extent possible to minimise their agony and hurt. It may be recalled that Ms Bharathi had, in an interview, said they always demonstrated their eagerness to know about the well-being of their dad.

The girls stayed in London, away from the family, even during the humdinger of a political marathon mass contact event 'praja sankalpa yatra', the long padayatra of Jaganmohan Reddy, making use of the communication systems to stay in touch with the family – though there is no dearth of love and affection.

In 'Naalo…Naatho... YSR', a book authored by YS Vijayamma, she recalled how fondly Ms Bharati had wanted to send her kids when they turned 17 to their grandfather so that they would grow under his guardianship for two years, but that remained an unfulfilled desire.

The girls gave a surprise gift to their dad, upon his resounding victory in the elections in 2019, by coming to India from London and meeting and greeting him on his remarkable win.

They always stayed away from ostentation and bombast, said family sources and they hardly made public appearances. They were seen in the lap of YSR in a photograph earlier and again on the day Jagan was sworn in the Chief Minister. Ever since, they never came into public. Most outsiders don't even know how they look like. They hardly have any presence in media or social media.

Jagan and Bharati will attend the graduation function of their daughter on July 2 in France and return to Amaravati the next day