VIJAYAWADA : Responding to the challenge thrown by YSRC North Andhra regional coordinator YV Subba Reddy, APCC chief YS Sharmila has said she is ready for an open debate on the issue of State development.
“You either fix the place and time, or I will do it. Let us call intellectuals and experts. I will come along with the media and Opposition. You show the development as you have claimed. However, first, tell me where are your capital cities? What happened to the Polavaram project?” she questioned.
On Tuesday, the first day of her nine-day whirlwind tour of Andhra Pradesh, the APCC chief travelled from Palasa to Ichapuram in an APSRTC bus, interacting with the people.
Along with AICC State incharge Manickam Tagore, CWC members N Raghuveera Reddy and Gidugu Rudraraju and senior leader KVP Ramachandra Rao, she paid floral tributes at the YSR Pylon in Ichapuram. Speaking on the occasion, she recalled how Praja Prasthanam Padayatra of YS Rajasekhara Reddy had changed the entire political scenario of Andhra Pradesh. “Using the opportunity the people gave him, YSR gave them free power, crop loan waiver, Aarogyasri, fee reimbursement, 46 lakh pucca houses. Today, as his daughter, I am starting my journey to champion the cause of poor from here,” she said, and sought the blessings of the people. “For YSR, Congress was everything. Both had a symbiotic relationship. In his entire life, he opposed the BJP,” she said, while expressing concern over both the ruling and Opposition parties in the State becoming puppets in the hands of the BJP.
Later, addressing Congress cadre in Vizianagaram, she said Special Category Status to AP is only possible with the Congress in power at the Centre and this message has to be taken to the people effectively. Continuing her broadside against Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, she said there was no job calendar or total prohibition in the State.