YS Sharmila to launch party in Telangana on July 8, announces agitation

The announcement was made during the 'Sankalpa Sabha' in Khammam. While her brother and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy stayed away from the meeting, Sharmila's mother YS Vijayamma participated in it.

Firing her first salvo, she said she will not only fight against the TRS but other two Opposition parties, Congress and the BJP as well because they are "working hand in glove."

Sharmila said she would float a new party in the state to fight the "anti-people policies" of the TRS government.

She accused the KCR-led government of cheating unemployed youth, farmers, and other improvised sections of society. "The self-esteem of people of Telangana is being crushed under the feet of Doras (rulers), Telangana earned the dubious distinction of witnessing more than 6,000 farmers' suicides. This is the second-highest farmer suicide cases in the country," she said.

To mobilize masses before the launch, she announced an agitation programme including a three-day hunger strike at Hyderabad from April 15.

Later, she said, there will be relay hunger strikes by her workers all over the state every day till such time the state government issues notification to fill 1.91 lakh vacancies as promised by Chandrasekhar Rao.

Invoking `YSR's legacy', Vijayamma sought the blessings of people so that she can serve the people of Telangana

Vijayamma, who is the honorary president of the YSRC, said Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were inseparable and the people of the two states shared a strong emotional bond.

Vijayamma said she had extended her full support to her brother Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy when cases were filed against him. "Sharmila toured various places in undivided Andhra Pradesh and explained how Jagan was implicated in false cases," she said.