JOIN USIn what could be a setback to the YSR family, Sharmila, the daughter of late YS Rajasekara Reddy and sister of the jailed YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, suffered a knee fracture in the middle of a mammoth padayatra she had embarked upon on behalf of her jailed brother. The news comes close on the heals of denial of bail to Jagan. Sharmila statrted the yatra as a show of strength for her brother’s party, which won 15 seats in the last by-elections to the Andhra Pradesh legislature and has been attracting several MLAs from the ruling Congress and the principal opposition Telugu Desum Party.
Sharmila, who began her “Maro Prajaprasthanam” Padayatra amid much fanfare and large turn out of supporters on October 18 from Idupulapaya in Kadapa district, and has covered 822 km on foot across Kadapa, Anantapur, Kurnool, Mahbubnagar and Ranga Reddy districts.
In effect, she has covered 24 Assembly constituencies in 57 days. She continued the padayatra amid fierce opposition from Telangana students, who pelted her cavalcade with stones, chappals and eggs twice at Mahbubnagar district.
With just 25 per cent of her Padayatra completed, Sharmila had a fall from a ladder in her campaign vehicle. She was trying to climb atop the top and address the gathering at Injapur of RangaReddy district on December 15. The yatra was halted on December 9 following threats of protest by the Telangana JAC. Doctors of the Apollo Hospitals have said that Sharmila, who turned 39 on Monday, underwent an MRI and has been advised surgery that would confine her to bed for three weeks.
The high-spirited member of the YSR family had struck an emotional and sentimental chord with the masses during her padayatra .