Andhra Pradesh elections shake up political families, cause estrangement
Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh has shaken up a string of political families resulting in discord and estrangement. Siblings took on each other, a son contested against his minister-father while a determined wife was cajoled to stop competing against her husband at the last moment, among others. In this battle of blood relatives, YSRCP chief and outgoing Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy faced a real challenge from his sister, Andhra Pradesh Congress chief Y S Sharmila who emerged as a 'thorn in the flesh' for him. After experimenting with politics in Telangana through the YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) and merging it with Congress, Sharmila took over the reins of the grand old party in Andhra Pradesh to target her brother on a daily basis, accompanied several times by her cousin Suneetha Narreddy.
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«Jagan is not the successor of YSR (Y S Rajasekhar Reddy) at all. There is no similarity between the regimes led by YSR and Jagan...Jagan's reign is marked by murderous politics,» said Sharmila at Mydukuru in Kadapa district on April 8.
As Congress candidate for Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency, Sharmila took on her cousin Y S Avinash Reddy from YSRCP, who is an accused in the Vivekananda Reddy's murder case. Though she lost, Sharmila, garnered more than 1.4 lakh votes and managed to inflict electoral damage on Avinash Reddy, who won by a margin of 62,695 votes.
Avinash Reddy had the full backing of Jagan Mohan Reddy who said people of Kadapa 'know
