The political heat may rise a few notches this week with the ‘YS siblings’, now helming rival parties, scheduled to take part in meetings in the City of Destiny.
While Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy will be addressing a meeting of party cadres at Anandapuram in Visakhapatnam district on January 27, his firebrand sister and new president of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) Y.S. Sharmila will be in the Port City on January 24, her first after taking over the mantle.
While the Congress leaders are busy making arrangements for Ms. Sharmila’s maiden visit as APCC president, the YSRCP leaders have started conducting meetings with Assembly segment-wise cadre to gather people for Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s meeting.
“Ms. Sharmila will address the cadre at the party office in Visakhapatnam in the morning. Later, she will reach Anakapalli to interact with the cadre there at 3 p.m.,” Congress party Anakapalli district president B. Srinivas told The Hindu on January 21.
Meanwhile, Chodavaram MLA Karanam Dharmasri and S.Kota counterpart Kadubandi Srinivasa Rao held meetings with YSRCP cadre at their respective Assembly segment party offices and discussed the ways of making the meeting at Anandapuram a success.
“At least 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh people are expected to attend the Chief Minister’s meeting. We have tentatively selected Palavalasa village in Anandapuram mandal, close to NH-16, as venue for the meeting. Initially, we thought of conducting the meeting at Bheemunipatnam on January 25,” Mr. Dharmasri said.
“The two political events in which the children of late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy will be participating on behalf of different parties will bring in a new dimension to politics. The siblings who once fought together to oust their main rival, the TDP, are now pitted against one another,” observes a senior political leader on condition of anonymity.
