Amid Jagan-Sharmila’s property dispute, YSR’s wife takes daughter’s side

Amid an ongoing property dispute between YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy and his sister and Congress leader YS Sharmila, their mother has come out in support of the latter in an open letter, saying it was her “duty to speak up for the unfairly treated child”.

YS Vijayalakshmi (or Vijayamma) has clarified in the letter that her husband, former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy (popularly known as YSR), had not distributed the family’s assets among his two children during his lifetime as it has been claimed by two persons close to the family.

In response to her open letter, the YSR Congress Party has released another open letter, saying the “mother has not been neutral”.

Also read: Jagan Mohan, sister Sharmila in ugly spat over property, shares

Sharmila’s “selfless” work

According to Vijayamma, Sharmila stayed away from the family business under Jagan’s instructions and worked selflessly in politics for him instead. “Jagan’s rise to power owes much to Sharmila’s efforts,” she wrote. Jagan was the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh until earlier this year when he lost to the NDA led by arch-rival Chandrababu Naidu, the TDP chief, who is now the chief minister.

The YSRCP, however, blamed Vijayamma for the loss. According to the party’s open letter, she backed Sharmila and the Congress before and after the Assembly polls, which is why Jagan lost. The YSRCP slammed Sharmila for joining “the party that had put Jagan Reddy in jail”.

Jagan was arrested by the CBI on embezzlement charges in May 2012 and he spent 16 months in jail before securing bail in September 2013. There was a Congress/UPA government at the helm in both the state and the Centre at that time.

Mother refutes YSRCP claims

Two YSRCP leaders — V Vijaya Sai Reddy, the family auditor, and YV Subba Reddy, who is a relative — have been largely behind spreading the news that YSR had divided his property. Vijayamma has said the claims were not true.

She has clarified that YSR had given some of his assets to Jagan and some to Sharmila as they were growing up, but did divide the family property as such. She said both Vijaya Sai Reddy and Subba Reddy know this but are lying nevertheless.

Vijayamma has also backed Sharmila’s claim that YSR wanted all family assets to be equally distributed among his four grandchildren. “YSR’s wish was for his children to have equal shares, and that’s the truth,” she wrote.

Jagan’s change of heart in 2019

“As a mother, all children are equal. It’s painful to see injustice done to one child. As a mother, it’s my duty to speak up for the unfairly treated child,” Vijayamma wrote. She mentioned that Jagan had indeed worked hard, because of which the assets grew in value, “but it is also true that all assets are family property”, she wrote.

After YSR’s death in a helicopter crash in 2009, the family stayed together till 2019, Vijayamma said. However, two months after becoming the chief minister in 2019, Jagan proposed the distribution of assets when they were on a visit to Israel, Vijayamma revealed. He was apparently concerned about their grown children not getting along.

The MoU

“After that, in Vijayawada, in my presence, they decided to divide the assets. This is the MoU written and signed by Jagan himself. Since Sharmila had rights, Jagan gave her Rs 200 crore in dividends. Sharmila had rights, which is why they wrote the MoU. It was written officially,” the letter says.

“As per the MoU, Jagan would get 60 per cent of the share and Sharmila, the remaining 40 per cent. Before the MoU was signed, the dividend used to be equally shared because Sharmila had an equal share according to YSR. I am privy to this, party to this, and a witness to this in the past and present,” she clarified.

Vijayamma also mentioned that Subba Reddy had signed the MoU as a witness.

Also read: 'Jagan only guardian of family businesses': Sharmila takes on brother in open letter

Sharmila got a raw deal

Some of the family’s property was attached by the ED and a court case is still on. However, of the property not attached by the ED, 100 per cent shares of Saraswati Power and 100 per cent shares of the Yelahanka property would be given to Sharmila immediately, Jagan had promised, Vijayamma wrote.

However, these were never transferred to Sharmila, nor were the other assets not attached by the ED. Other properties mentioned in the MOU but attached by the ED — Sharmila’s share of Bharati Cements, Sakshi Media, and YSR’s home — should come to her after the court cases are settled, the mother added.

However, the YSRCP claimed that Jagan had shared his assets with Sharmila “out of goodwill” and had never asked for those back. The party reiterated that YSR had “already transferred assets to Sharmila and Jagan”. “He only sent a notice regarding the exchange of attached properties in ED cases without his knowledge,” YSRCP state secretary SV Satish Reddy said in a statement.

Dispute in tribunal

Jagan has taken up the “illegal” transfer of shares in Saraswati Power with the National Company Law Tribunal. According to him, he got the shares “by a gift deed” and that he had “gifted” them to his mother “with the understanding that the transfer...would happen post court clearance (and) with execution of further appropriate documentation”.

However, according to the complaint, Sharmila transferred those shares to herself in a “deceitful manner”. Jagan has also declared as void the MoU he signed in 2019. Sharmila has dismissed his intention to scrap the MoU, saying it has no legal authority anyway.

She has highlighted YSR’s “unambiguous’ instruction “that all property acquired with family resources during his lifetime should be divided equally between his four grandchildren”.

The tribunal will hear the matter on November 8.

Mother’s appeal

The bitter sibling rivalry emerged after 2019, with Sharmila floating her own YSR Telangana party in 2021. She merged it with the Congress before the Lok Sabha election earlier this year. The Congress named Sharmila as the party’s Andhra Pradesh chief, pitting her as her brother’s political rival as well.

In her letter, Vijayamma asked all concerned to leave her children alone and let them sort their issues out. “Blood is thicker than water. My children will answer for themselves. I trust in God, who will provide solutions to their problems,” she wrote.