Sharmila demands YSR memorial in Hyderabad; accuses KCR of ignoring YSR's favors

YSR Telangana Party chief YS Sharmila has accused chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of disregarding “the favors extended” by united Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, while demanding the TRS government for a YSR memorial in Hyderabad.

KCR took back the land marked for the purpose by the earlier Congress government, Sharmila said reminding the CM that the prime parcel in Banjara Hills “where the TRS headquarters was built was allotted by YSR in 2004.”

YSR's daughter even attacked the Congress over the issue, saying that the party's decline began since it “back stabbed” its charismatic leader after his death.

Friday - 8 July - marked the 73rd birth anniversary of YSR, who served as the CM from 2004 to 2009. He died in a chopper crash on 2 September 2009, an event believed to have effected major political changes and formation of the Telangana state eventually in 2014.

“The TRS which was a fledgling party could gather influence in Telangana because of the electoral alliance with the Congress under YSR here in 2004. It was because of YSR that KCR could become a central minister and Telangana statehood issue was included in the UPA's agenda,” Sharmila pointed.

“But after he became the CM, KCR took back the 20 acre land allocated for YSR memorial (near the Hussain Sagar lake in the heart of the city),”Sharmila told reporters in Hyderabad, after she returned from Idupulapaya in Andhra Pradesh's Kadapa where she offered prayers at her father's grave.

“It is a shame that there is no proper place to pay homage to the great leader in this Hyderabad megacity, from where YSR conducted his welfare centric governance with Telangana given priority,” Sharmila said.

The YSRTP chief reminded that the K Rosaiah government, which followed YSR's, had allocated the land with the promise of building a memorial within a year.

“Nothing happened then. YSR named every popular scheme he implemented after Congress leaders Indira and Rajiv Gandhi. The later Congress government never honored him like this and instead the departed leader's name was included in an FIR,” Sharmila accused.

Stating that a YSR memorial was not just her demand but that of crores of his fans, beneficiaries of his welfare schemes, Sharmila demanded the TRS government to move immediately to construct a monument.

“KCR seems to be averse to YSR's name. But why are the TRS ministers like Sabitha Indra Reddy, part of the Congress government in the United state, not doing something about the memorial? It was YSR who gave you political life,” Sharmila thundered.

Sabitha, the present Telangana education minister, first became a minister in the YSR's team. After the 2009 reelection, YSR made her AP's first woman home minister. She continued in the Rosaiah and Kiran Kumar Reddy's cabinets. Sabitha joined the TRS in 2019.

Sharmila who is on a statewide padayatra said that her party would contest in all the constituencies in the 2023 polls. The younger sister of AP CM Jaganmohan Reddy formed YSRTP exactly a year ago.