Appointing Khammam MP P. Srinivas Reddy as YSR Congress working president for Telangana, party president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy expressed confidence that they would have a strong presence and be a force to reckon with, in the next four years.
On Wednesday, Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy addressed a Telangana State-level meeting, coinciding with the birth anniversary of Kumram Bheem, the tribal leader. He said his sister Sharmila would continue the unfinished ‘Oadarpu Yatra’ (consolation in Telugu) as ‘paramarsa’ (calling on) in Telangana. ‘Odarpu’ was taken up by him to console the families of those who apparently took their lives after Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was killed in a helicopter crash.
Taking a dig at Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he asked, “When they do not know the language and when local dynamics are competing to gain political space in Telangana, how can the YSRC shy away from its responsibility? We will work together and strengthen the party with Mr. Srinivas Reddy and Ms. Sharmila touring the State,” he said. Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy said four years from now, the YSRC flag would flutter high in the two States. It would take a while for the anti-incumbency factor in Telangana to sink in but in Andhra Pradesh, a mood of dissent had already set in, he said.
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Telangana benefited the maximum with welfare schemes initiated by the late Chief Minister and there were more deaths after his unfortunate demise in the new State. “This shows that Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy had a good following here. We will carry forward the legacy of YSR, we will be with the people, fight for their cause and with the cooperation of the masses, emerge as a force in the State,” Ms. Sharmila said.