Jagan’s party calls Sharmila ‘puppet of TDP’

Hyderabad The property dispute between YSR Congress party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and his sister YS Sharmila, president of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), has taken a political colour with the YSRCP accusing her of conspiring against him under the influence of Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu.

On Friday, a Telugu daily, owned by Jagan, carried a detailed account of the dispute between him and his sister and alleged that she had become a part of the conspiracy hatched by Naidu to create legal troubles for him.

“During the elections, Sharmila had joined hands with Jagan’s detractors and made wild allegations against him. Now, she had fallen into the trap of Naidu and his party which conspired to get the bail of Jagan revoked in the CBI and ED cases pending against him, by getting the shares of Saraswati Power and Industries illegally transferred in the name of her mother Vijayamma,” the newspaper alleged.

Senior YSRCP leader and former minister Perni Venkatramaiah alias Nani also came down heavily on Sharmila for allegedly falling in the trap of Naidu and getting the shares of Saraswati power company transferred on her mother Vijayamma’s name, in violation of the court’s restrictions.

Stating that the TDP’s social media wing was stoking unnecessary controversies about Jagan’s family, Nani wondered whether Naidu had ever shared his wealth with his younger brother, unlike Jagan, who had distributed assets to his sister even after their father’s death. “Naidu has not shared any of his properties with his family,” he said.

In a separate statement, YSRCP state intellectual forum president Y Eswara Prasada Reddy alleged that Sharmila had become a puppet in the hands of Naidu, who had opposed her father and former chief minister late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy (YSR) and was hell bent on destroying Jagan politically.

“Sharmila may not get the properties, which her brother Jagan Mohan Reddy wanted to give her out of love and affection. But certainly, the opponents of YSR are very happy with the developments, as it suits their purpose,” he said and requested her to come out of the clutches of such political elements.

Reacting to the media report and the statements of other YSRCP leaders, Sharmila posted on X a detailed clarification how Jagan had betrayed the mandate of her father when he was alive.

She alleged that it was Jagan who had leaked the information about the case filed by him in the National Company Law Tribunal against his own mother and sister more than a month back.

“Though the case was filed on September 3, we never disclosed it to the media though we were deeply hurt with the way he dragged us to the court. Obviously, Jagan wanted to project us as cheaters in public and hence, leaked the case to the media,” she said.

Sharmila said she had absolutely no connection whatsoever with the TDP and she was ready to take an oath on Holy Bible to that effect. “I am YSR’s daughter and have no necessity to act as per the directions of Chandrababu Naidu. How am I responsible, if my letter to Jagan was posted by the TDP in its social media handle?” she asked.

TDP politburo member Varla Ramaiah took strong exception to Jagan and his media house for blaming the TDP for the property dispute with his family. “This is nothing but an attempt to divert the attention of the people from his inhuman act of dragging his own mother and sister to the court to deny them their due share in the family properties,” he said.

Ramaiah alleged that Jagan had amassed huge wealth through ill-gotten means in the last 15 years. “The CBI and ED are probing the cases. He is afraid that his corrupt deeds would get exposed soon,” he said.