Hyderabad: Morusupalli Sharmila Shastri. This is the name some supporters of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy want his sister Y.S. Sharmila to adopt for her political career in the state.
Sharmila, the daughter of late Congress chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, was earlier this month appointed as the president of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) in a bid to revive the party’s fortunes and reclaim her father’s legacy.
However, many of Jagan’s loyalists are unhappy with her using the ‘YS’ surname as she began criticising their leader publicly. They have even launched a ‘#MorusupalliSharmila’ social media campaign, expressing their displeasure and disdain for Sharmila’s re-entry into state politics as an opposition leader.
While YS stands for Yeduguri Sandinti, Morusupalli is the surname of Sharmila’s husband Anil Kumar, a well-known evangelist who, sources said, works behind the scenes when it comes to politics. Kumar, who belongs to an orthodox Brahmin family in Telangana, reportedly converted to Christianity after meeting and marrying Sharmila.
Since 21 January, the day Sharmila took over as Andhra Congress chief, Dr Pradeep Reddy Chinta, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party’s (YSRCP’s) UK convenor, has posted several times on X, criticising Sharmila. All of the posts carry the hashtag #MorusupalliSharmila.
“After winding up in Telangana, Mrs Morusupalli started drama in Andhra Pradesh now. Jagan Reddy, she says!” Chinta posted Sunday attaching a short clip of Sharmila’s APCC inaugural speech in Vijayawada where she refers to the former CM N. Chandrababu Naidu as Chandrababu garu, using the Telugu honorary suffix, but refers to the YSRCP CM as just Jagan Reddy.
జగన్ రెడ్డి అంట😡😡
తెలంగాణలో డ్రామా ముగిసింది – ఇప్పుడు ఆంధ్రాలో మొదలెట్టింది మిసెస్ మొరుసుపల్లి
🤦♂️🤦♂️#MorusupalliSharmila
— Dr.Pradeep Reddy Chinta (@DrPradeepChinta) January 21, 2024
“Expected her to criticise but didn’t expect she’ll stoop so low. She is demeaning late YSR,” Chinta, who hails from Kadapa and is popular on social media with posts and videos supportive of Jagan and critical of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and JanaSena Party, said in another post.
Chinta also posted a short video of Jagan’s old interview where, when asked about Sharmila’s future at the party, he had said “Sharmila is like my elder daughter. She means a lot to me”.
షర్మిల నా పెద్ద కూతురులాంటిది – జగనన్న@ysjagan
అటువంటి అన్నను ఈ రోజు చెల్లెలు నానా మాటలంటోంది🤦♂️🤦♂️@realyssharmila #MorusupalliSharmila pic.twitter.com/8UOGXSCSwg
— Dr.Pradeep Reddy Chinta (@DrPradeepChinta) January 21, 2024
“She is (now) calling names such a brother,” Chinta tweeted tagging Y.S. Sharmila’s account, in yet another #MorusupalliSharmila post.
While Chinta’s posts have gained a lot of traction, with hundreds of retweets, many other Jagan’s fans have also been expressing their disparaging views on Sharmila with the same hashtag.
“We are better than you, despite any adversity won’t desert Jagan,” Suma Tiyyagura, a YSRCP-Jagan supporter, posted, attaching the Jagan interview clip.
The Jagan admirers’ social media tirade also evoked the curiosity of filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, who posted Wednesday — “Can someone please tell me why she is called Morusupalli Sharmila Shasthri?”
Can someone please tell me why she is called Morusupalli Sharmila Shasthri ???😳
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) January 23, 2024
While some took it as RGV’s witty take, others pointed out the Telangana connection Sharmila made during her campaigns as regional party Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Telangana Party (YSRTP) chief saying that a woman belongs to her in-law’s place after marriage. Sharmila formed the YSRTP in 2021 and merged it into the Congress earlier this month.
The YSR family are followers of Christianity from three previous generations but continue their caste affiliations and surnames. Earlier, Sharmila had said in an interview that her father was initially against her marriage to Anil Kumar, as he feared she would face difficulties in a Brahmin family, “but he eventually agreed”.
Also Read: Jagan’s social engineering sparks dissidence in YSRCP ahead of polls. ‘Reddy dissent spilling out’
‘Sharmila entitled to YS name, but YSR legacy is Jagan’s’
Speaking to ThePrint, Y.V. Subba Reddy, a key leader in YSRCP, a former MP and an uncle to the siblings, said that there can be no objection to Sharmila using the ‘YS’ surname “but the YSR legacy has been successfully claimed and would remain with Jagan”.
“She is YSR’s daughter and Jagan’s sister and we have that affection towards her. And she has been popular as Y.S. Sharmila. But as an elder, I expressed my objection, advising her to refrain from calling her elder brother publicly as Jagan Reddy (like hardcore opponents do),” said Subba Reddy.
“Besides that, Sharmila, as a politician, is free to level any allegations on our government and we can show her the truth,” he added.
After Subba Reddy’s public remarks earlier this week chastising Sharmila for the Jagan Reddy reference, she has been, a bit satirically, stressing on the words “Jagan anna” in her speeches while continuing to attack his governance, accusing him of having become the BJ’s puppet.
On #MorusupalliSharmila, Subba Reddy, the YSRCP north Andhra coordinator and a close confidant of Jagan, said, “Some of Jagan’s followers might have been hurt by her diatribe on her brother and are reacting in such a way. It’s better not to go into personal, family aspects.”
Meanwhile, the AP Congress leaders, who appear enthused with Sharmila’s entry, are defending their leader, “our beloved YSR’s daughter”.
“YSR surname, legacy rightfully belongs to his daughter who is standing for secularism, his dream of seeing Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister. Not to Jagan, who has aligned with the BJP, pawned state’s interests and is remote-controlled by Narendra Modi,” Shaikh Mastan Vali, a former legislator and APCC working president told ThePrint.
“Sharmila won’t be cowed down by threats, social media hashtags. She will continue tospeak on public issues, questioning the YSRCP government’s misdeeds,” Vali added.
Responding to the reactions, Chinta also posted on X, “Some question our criticism, pointing that she is also Rajanna bidda (YSR’s child). We are also asking her the same — why are you critical of Rajanna bidda (Jagan)? We respect Sharmila, but Jagan is our life. This is not just mine but the feeling of crores of Rajanna’s admirers.”
‘Congress has split my family’
While some YSRCP leaders like the influential general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy have been reproving Shamila’s forays in Andhra as Jagan’s opponent, the CM himself has reacted on the matter from the last two days.
On Tuesday, Jagan, in a public rally in Anantapuram district, in an apparent reference to Sharmila, said that “some Chandrababu Naidu’s admirers, star campaigners have joined the party that divided the state, in order to uplift the former CM’s position”.
On Wednesday, speaking at an education conclave in Tirupati, Jagan accused the Congress party of “splitting his family”.
He added: “Congress is known to play dirty, especially, when it comes to Andhra Pradesh. They have divided the united AP unjustly for political gains. They have adopted the divide-and-rule policy be it the state or our family. When I went against the Congress (and left the party in 2010-11), they pitted my uncle (Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy) against me, making him a minister. Now again, they have brought in my sister to lead the Congress here.”
On Thursday, Sharmila also reacted to her brother’s comments.
“Jagan is solely responsible for the split in the YSR family. God, YSR’s widow and my mother Vijayamma, my whole family are witness to it. I went on a padayatra keeping aside my family, children, and walked 3,200 kms in the rain and sun. When asked, I went on odarpu yatra in Telangana, another yatra for Samaikhyandhra here,” the APCC chief, who is on a statewide tour to strengthen the party network, said in Kakinada during one such party meeting.
“I did everything selflessly for your victory in 2019. But Jaganmohan Reddy garu was a changed man after becoming the CM,” she added.
She went on to say that even though she was given a raw deal (politically after party’s victory), she expected him to be a good, pro-people administrator. “But he did not even commit to the YSR ideals and supported the BJP. I joined the Congress for people’s sake, aware that it would mean a division in the family.”
“I am YSR’s blood. (Let some people accept it or not), I am YS Sharmila Reddy. I have also named my son YS Raja Reddy,” Sharmila said in Vijayawada Friday.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
Also Read: Yatra 2, Vyooham, Shapadham — it’s a race to make films on Jagan in poll-bound Andhra Pradesh