Y S Sharmila interview: ‘PM Modi has done nothing for Andhra special status … BJP, TDP, YSRCP all non-performers’

How is the campaign going?

Fabulous, we are getting an amazing response.

Only in Kadapa or across the state?

It is across the state. People are realising that it is only the Congress that is standing by them, though they also know that the Congress is very weak right now… I should say that we are slowly gaining traction.

Why did you return to Andhra after briefly shifting base to Telangana and floating a party there?

There was a need when I went there as a tyrant was ruling Telangana. It was important to bring his government down and I played my part in it by undertaking a 3,800-km padayatra to sharpen the anti-incumbency against him. However, simultaneously the Congress also grew due to Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, electoral success in neighbouring Karnataka and Revanth Reddy’s hard work. It was important for me to step down there as we did not want to split the Congress’s vote bank.

After I joined the Congress, the party requested me to go to Andhra as nobody here was fighting for the state’s special category status. I felt it was important that someone came here and used the Congress platform to bring back its past glory.

As state Congress chief, what are your challenges?

Andhra is in a very peculiar condition because of which, even the bitterness of the bifurcation appears as a minor problem. But thanks to the 10 years that have already passed by, people are realising the shallowness of the BJP government.(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi has not done anything for the promised special category status. He laid the foundation stone for the capital (Amravati), but has done nothing more on that front too. He promised the completion of the Polavaram project (multi-purpose irrigation project on the Godavari) but provided no funds. People are now realising that the BJP, the TDP, and the YSRCP are all non-performers.

The BJP, the TDP or the YSRCP, no one is diligent in pursuing the state’s interests. The Congress has a bright chance, and the future belongs to it.

You have pitched the battle for the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat as one for justice. You are also talking about the Y S Vivekananda Reddy murder case though a court order refrains all Opposition leaders from mentioning it during the campaign.

I don’t think anybody has the right, nor any court the power, to curtail my speech. I am not speaking about anything that is not in the public domain. The CBI chargesheet is in the public domain, and everybody has a right to speak. I am not scared. I am not telling lies, making defamatory comments or saying imaginary stuff. Freedom of speech is a Constitutional right and there is nothing wrong with what I am doing.

What are the local issues in Kadapa?

There is a huge drinking water problem in Kadapa town and its rural segments … Though the CM, the local MP (Avinash) and most local MLAs belong to the YSRCP, I fail to understand why the issue hasn’t been addressed.

Farmers are facing huge losses. (Chief Minister) Jagan Mohan Reddy has promised Rs 2,500 crore just for irrigation in Pulivendula, as part of the Pulivendula Minor Irrigation Scheme. The Kadapa Steel Factory, which was promised in the AP Reorganisation Act, has not yet seen the light of day, but we don’t see the CM or the MP fight for it. No development works have been taken up after (former CM) Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s tenure.