HYDERABAD: Tension built up as former chief minister late YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s daughter YS Sharmila’s blouse was torn, her hand injured, and finally, she herself collapsed at Telugu Talli flyover near the Secretariat on Thursday evening as she fought with the police while on her way to her Lotus Pond residence from Indira Park after the latter asked her to end her three-day hunger strike prematurely by 5 pm as she does not have permission for her three-day Deeksha.
Furious with the way the police had acted, Sharmila declared that she would not even touch water till the police released all her supporters. As she sustained an injury to her hand, she was taken to a hospital where the doctors bandaged her arm and then was taken to her residence where she is continuing her protest now. The trouble started when Sharmila, in an impulsive decision, decided to walk to her home from Indira Park, after the police made it clear that she cannot continue her hunger strike as the time given to her was up.
The police were clearly taken aback since they did not imagine that she would convert her protest into a padayatra with her supporters. They tried to persuade her against taking out the padayatra but she would not listen. When she reached Telugu Talli statue, the police stopped her forcefully and made her board a police van. In the melee, her clothes got torn and her hand was injured. For a few moments she collapsed out of exhaustion.
“I have promised the unemployed youth that I would observe Deeksha for three days to pressurise the government to release notifications for jobs. I will continue to do it, come what may,” she said and asserted that one day she would become the Chief Minister of Telangana to ensure justice for the teeming unemployed youth. She also warned that she would hit back if she is roughed up once again.
Slamming Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Sharmila said that the former had shed crocodile tears when youth took their lives by suicide. “Why are you blind to the youths resorting to such extreme measures? Is it because you are in a slumber in your farmhouse,” she asked.Prof Kancha Ilaiah, who was vocal against Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, extended support to Sharmila’s protest. He went on to say that Sharmila becoming Chief Minister will be the answer to “misogynist KCR”.“Sharmila has the right to float a party. She is the successor to Sammakka Sarakka, and Chakali Ialamma. The women in this State will make you Chief Minister,” Ilaiah said.
Expressing solidarity, Indian Journalists Union (IJU) president K Sreenivas Reddy said it was unfortunate that nothing is possible unless one takes to the streets and fights for it. “The rulers want democracy for them to come into power and they don’t want the same for people. The people have to knock on the doors of the judiciary to obtain permission to take protests,” Sreenivas Reddy said.Sharmila’s mother YS Vijayamma and BC leader R Krishnaiah were among others who attended the dharna.