YS Sharmila, the daughter of former united Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy, started her own political party in Telangana, a few months ago, YSRTP. Ever since then, she has been doing her best to get the attention of the people of the state. She has been staging protests in Hyderabad against the ruling TRS, over the unemployment rates in the state, and other issues, but none of them have been able to capture the people’s interest.
On October 20th, Sharmila started a padayatra from Chevella, a place that was sentimental for her father. Since then, she has covered 150 villages spanning 6 assembly constituencies, over the span of 21 days. These include Chevella, Maheshwaram, Shamshabad, Ibrahimpatnam, Devarakonda and Munugode. While those close to Sharmila are saying that she has received tremendous response from the people, it is being widely circulated that the response from the people has been less than impressive.
Citing the model code of conduct for the local body elections, Sharmila has currently paused her padayatra and is expected to resume it from December 16th. Analysts say that she may not resume her padayatra after all and that she would eventually put a permanent stop to it. The reason for this is being cited as political analyst Prashanth Kishore dropping out from helping Sharmila in Telangana, as he is speculated to be joining hands with CM KCR. PK is said to have told Sharmila that she wouldn’t be able to succeed with her political aspiration in Telangana right now, based on the political scenario in the state currently.