If Congress is insignificant, YSRCP too is no different, retorts Sharmila

APCC president Y.S. Sharmila paying tributes to Jawaharlal Nehru at a programme organised to mark his birth anniversary, in Vijayawada on Thursday, November 14, 2024
| Photo Credit: G.N. RAO

Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had brought people of different backgrounds, languages and cultures together, and sowed the seeds for development of the nation, APCC president Y.S. Sharmila said on November 14 (Thursday).

After paying tributes to Jawaharlal Nehru on his birth anniversary in Vijayawada, Ms. Sharmila said she was proud to be leading a party of which great leaders like Nehru were a part.

Later, when asked for her response to former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s statement that Congress was insignificant in the State, she said, “Yes, our vote share is minimal. We may be insignificant, but what about your party? What use is your vote share if you decide to abstain from the Assembly sessions?”

After Ms. Sharmila, in a press conference on November 11, demanded that the YSRCP MLAs resign since they decided to boycott the sessions, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said he did not want to talk about a party that did not get any votes.

Continuing her tirade against the YSRCP, Ms. Sharmila said Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy was not answerable to her, but to the people of the State who voted for him.

“Instead of talking about the Budget on the Floor of the Assembly, he held a press meet. We also held a press meet well before he did. If we are insignificant, what is the difference between them and us,” she asked.

She said Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy did not have any right to speak ill about a party that had been there for decades, even before he was born, and which was very dear to former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. “He should perhaps use this time in reflecting why he got only 11 seats,” she said.

The Congress leader later demanded that the police arrest every social media activist, irrespective of their party affiliations, who had spoken about women, judges and politicians in a derogatory manner.