It’s official. YSR Congress president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s younger and charismatic sister Sharmila will be the one to challenge Chandrababu Naidu’s padayatra by starting off on her own 3,000 km long walk through the state on October 18.
Sharmila’s Maro Praja Prasthanam would kick off from the YSR memorial at Idupulapaya in Kadapa district and end at Itchapuram, the place where her father, the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had ended his own Praja Prasthanam. Sharmila is probably the first woman in the country to undertake such an arduous tour, traversing through all the three regions of the state.
According to the announcement by YSR Congress honorary president Y S Vijayalakshmi on Thursday, Jagan Mohan Reddy, whenever he gets bail, will take over from Sharmila and continue the yatra.
Sharmila’s padayatra has twin purposes - take the wind out of Chandrababu Naidu’s sails and bring back to life the images of YSR’s Praja Prasthanam in 2003 which helped the Congress come to power in 2004. The YSRC hopes that the walk would work its magic this time too.
Vijayamma, while announcing the padayatra said that she and daughter-in-law Bharati would also take part in it.
“In 2003, Rajasekhara Reddy took up padayatra because people were suffering under the TDP dispensation. Now the situation is much worse, warranting another padayatra by the YSR family,” she said
Vijayamma also took a swipe at Naidu“He has no credibility and no one is taking his padayatra seriously,” she said. .