Hyderabad: YSR Telangana Party leader YS Sharmila, who was arrested on Tuesday after she tried driving to the home of Chief Minister Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao ('KCR') in Hyderabad, today said she felt "insulted" as her "only aim" was to "parade our vehicles that were damaged by his party's goons".
Dramatic scenes have unfolded in Telangana over the past two days, topped by police in Hyderabad towing YS Sharmila's car — with her inside, on the driver's seat — as she set out for KCR's home to protest alleged attacks by his supporters on her party activists during a march in Warangal district. She got bail by the evening. In Warangal, where the clash took place a day before, Ms Sharmila too had been detained briefly.
"They insulted me, insulted my party workers; beat them up," she said of the police action in Hyderabad.
"There is no democracy in Telangana," alleged Ms Sharmila, whose brother, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, is the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, while she tries to build a career in Telangana, which was part of undivided Andhra Pradesh when their father, YS Rajasekhara Reddy ('YSR'), was among its most powerful leaders.
Having never contested an election, she rejected assessments that her party would at best be a "vote-cutter". "It's too early to say anything like that. See, I just launched the party, it's been one year. I have come a long way. I am on a 3,500-km padayatra and getting a good response. People see hope in me. I have a great chance, I think," she said.
"People believe I can bring my father's regime back again," she claimed, referring to YSR's 2004-2009 term as head of a Congress government before he died in helicopter crash.
She listed what she called KCR's unkept promises, "be it cancelling farm debt, or interest-free loans to women or jobs". "KCR believes he is the best chief minister and the people of Telangana are living in a state of bliss. The contrary is true."
So far, KCR, who led the Telangana movement, has been the state's chief minister since it was formed in 2014. He wants to go national — he renamed his party from Telangana Rashtra Samithi to Bharat Rashtra Samithi, pending formal approval — with heightened ambitions for the 2024 Lok Sabha contest. But the state polls are next year, and he remains aggressive as ever in guarding his turf, particularly against newer entrants.
Building on the immediate scenes, Ms Sharmila claimed there was "no clash" in Warangal but the police "sided with TRS party goons and created a law and order situation, only to arrest me for it". On her staying in the car when it was being towed in Hyderabad, she said, "Why would I come out — to get arrested again? I wanted KCR to see what's going on in his state."
TRS leaders have rejected the allegations and said the police only acted in the interest of maintaining order.
For the polls, Ms Sharmila again ruled out any tie-up with the BJP or the Congress. "That's not even a thought [in my head]," she said, "None of the parties in Telangana has stood for the people."
She has also stressed that her party has nothing to do with her brother's YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). "I have grown up in Telangana. I am married here. My son and daughter were born here. I belong to this state and my future is here. I do not know why people thought it was weird when I floated a party in Telangana," she has said.