The padayatra of Y S Sharmila, sister of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and president of YSR Telangana party is all set to come to an end in a couple of weeks and all these days, it has not been able to gain much attention from the people and the media.
But on Monday, all of a sudden, Sharmila padayatra generated a lot of heat and dust in the state politics, following a clash between her party workers and that of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi at Lingagiri village of Chennaraopeta manda in Warangal district.
As Sharmila was undertaking her padayatra on 223rd day, a group of TRS workers stormed her convoy, raising slogans against her and in support of TRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
They were protesting against her controversial comments against TRS lawmaker from Narsampet constituency Peddireddy Sudershan Reddy. Apparently, Sharmila accused Reddy of extorting money from people and indulging in land grabbing.
“I was told there are two MLAs for Narsampet, as Peddireddy’s wife is also behaving like an MLA and resorting to land grabbing. They have turned into land mafia and are not sparing even an inch of land in the constituency. Why should the people vote for such people?” she asked.
The irate TRS workers attacked her convoy with stones and sticks, damaged some vehicles and then set fire to her caravan, where she takes rest during lunch hours and later in the night. The bus was partially burnt before the YSRTP workers doused the fire.
The YSRTP workers resisted the attack by the TRS workers and this led to the clashes between the two groups. While the TRS workers fled the spot before the police reached there, the cops arrested Sharmila and shifted her to Hyderabad.
The agitated YSRTP workers staged a demonstration and blocked the roads and the police used force to disperse them.
Sharmila wondered why the police were arrested her, instead of taking action she was being arrested, instead of taking action against those who burnt her bus.
“We have permission for our padayatra. Why are the police stopping me?” she asked.