YSRTP leader YS Sharmila arrested during protest against Telangana govt

On Tuesday morning, YS Sharmila, who is the chief of the YSR Telangana Party, was arrested by Delhi Police during a protest against the government led by chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao.

Videos released by news agency ANI display Sharmila, dressed in a light blue saree and surrounded by photographers, being guided into an unmarked white vehicle by female police officers while she and her supporters chant “KCR down, down”.

Yesterday, YS Sharmila, the younger sister of Andhra Pradesh’s chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy, announced her intention to lead a peaceful march from Jantar Mantar to Parliament. The purpose of the march is to raise awareness about alleged irregularities in Telangana’s Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, a multi-purpose project located in Bhupalpally district on the Godavari river.

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On Monday, Sharmila criticized the authorities for their lack of action against publicly-known irregularities and stated that her protest aims to bring attention to the “biggest fiasco of Telangana” to the entire country and Parliament.

In a statement to reporters in Hyderabad, YS Sharmila declared her intention to walk from Jantar Mantar to Parliament as a means of exposing the enormity of the scam and their relentless struggle over the past two years. Sharmila also highlighted that the project’s cost rose from ₹38,500 crore to ₹1.20 lakh crore, yet the Bureau of Reclamation and Safety Minister claimed that only 1.5 lakh acres of land had been irrigated, emphasizing that Kaleshwaram is the largest failure.

YS Sharmila further alleged that the Kaleshwaram project was a disaster, with the funds going into the pockets of one contractor and one family. She accused KCR of being deceitful and only redesigning the project for the purpose of enriching himself. Sharmila argued that the quality of the project was so poor that it collapsed within three years, and she also criticized the Central finance institutions for extending a debt of ₹1 lakh crore to a single favoured company of KCR. She argued that the country has the right to demand an explanation since every Indian’s money was looted.

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Last week, Sharmila held a silent protest in Hyderabad near a statue on Tank Bund Road against crimes against women in the state. However, the police claimed that the protest violated regulations, and Sharmila and other members of the YSRTP were taken away. Later, Sharmila was moved to her residence.

In recent weeks, there has been an increase in political tension in Telangana as opposition parties such as the YSRTP and the Bharatiya Janata Party gear up to challenge KCR and his Bharat Rashtra Samithi in the upcoming Assembly election, which is scheduled to take place later this year.