Sharmila Reddy of Jagan Mohan Reddy's sister Take Care of Party

38-year-old Sharmila Reddy has embarked on an ambitious pan Andhra Pradesh road show to win wider support for her detained brother Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy to usher in YSR Congress rule and fulfill what their father envisioned for the state.

It is for the first time that a woman is setting out on such an odyssey in the state's political history.

On October 18, after paying homage at her father's grave, on the family estate in their native Idupulapaya village in Kadapa district, Sharmila, sporting a black ribbon, began the 3,000 km walkathon in a longer and more intensive trek than her father's 1,700 km Maha Prasthanam between April 9 and June 13, 2003.

Her long march Maro Praja Prasthanam is likely to take about six months.

Heralding her arrival is a theme song 'vastunnayi vastunnayi Jaganadha rathachakra ostunnayi' (The wheels of Lord Jagannath's chariot are rolling in) inspired by the lines of legendary Telugu poet Sri Sri and his magnum opus Maha Prastanam.

The song written by popular Telugu lyricist Anantha Sriram and sung by Vandemataram Srinivas says Jaganmohan Reddy has deputed Sharmila as his representative to assure the people that their problems will be solved when the YSR Congress comes to power.


Sharmila mass contact plan is to listen to people's grievances along her way, deviate from the main routes to visit villages in the interior to emphathise with the distraught and gather first hand their gripes about governance in the state.

At select places, she is to address rallies launching nuanced attacks on the ruling Congress and how it has altered or scuttled different welfare programmes, taunt and target the rival TDP for going soft on the Congress, challenge it to move a motion of no-confidence against the Kiran Kumar Reddy ministry and speak of how her family has become a victim of politics of vendetta.

Sharmila is aware of how to take the issues to an emotional level and sway the audiences having travelled extensively with her evangelist husband Brother Anil Kumar.

The YSR Congress game plan is to turn Jagan's prolonged absence into a tactical advantage and enable him to continue the journey when he is out of prison on bail.

The party is against taking any chances and losing time just in case the assembly elections as well as the Lok Sabha elections are advanced. For evocative appeal, Sharmila, like her father did in 2003, is also to stay at makeshift facilities during her travel.

Posted in: News