After the landslide victory of the YSR Congress in the bypolls, party chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s mother Y.S. Vijayalakshmi and sister Sharmila say that their job will be over only when Jagan Mohan Reddy becomes the chief minister of the state. Elevated as the star campaigners of the party after the CBI arrested Jagan, the mother-daughter team started attracting record crowds. In an exclusive interview with this newspaper on Saturday, Ms Vijayamma and Ms Sharmila, however, said that they had no interest in politics and had pitched in only to help the party when its star campaigner was jailed. Excerpts from the interview:
Q. Will you lead the party till the 2014 elections, especially since Jagan is in jail?
Vijaylakshmi: Why do you think like that? Jagan will come out of jail very soon. God will do justice. In fact, we are not interested in politics at all. I would get invited to functions when my husband was the chief minister but I wouldn’t attend as I was not interested. After his death, party leaders and the people of Pulivendula asked me to contest as MLA and lead the segment which was represented by my late husband and I said okay. Jagan has been unnecessarily and deliberately dragged into controversies by both the Central and state Congress leaders, at whose behest the CBI filed false cases against him and even arrested him. So I decided to lend my support to the party in whatever way I could; my aim is to see that Jagan babu occupies the chief minister’s chair and administers the state to fulfil YSR’ agenda of development.
Sharmila: I never wanted to be a politician either. I had campaigned for the Pulivendula bypolls in 2011 along with mam and other family members and this time too I had just gone with my mother for campaigning for the party.
It is over, I have been away from my children who are studying in Bengaluru for the last 15 days.
My daughter Anjali is missing me a lot so I am leaving for Bengaluru tonight to spend time with my children.
Q. Does this mean you will not lead the party in Jagan’s absence?
Sharmila: The media has already made me a star campaigner (laughs). So I will continue to campaign whenever needed, but I will have to look after my children, I don’t want to accept any party posts, my job is to support my brother. I will do whatever is required for that.
Q. So, you do not want to become an MLA like the other three members of the YSR family?
Sharmila: That’s right. I don’t want to become an MLA or minister
Q. Given that serious accusations have been made against Jagan, do you think it is possible for him to become CM after the next elections? Some are even saying that one of you might become the first woman chief minister of the state?
Vijayamma: We have no such ambitions, our job is to see Jagan become CM. He will come out from jail soon, all these cases were foisted on him; there is no truth in the allegations. The people of the state have already resolved to make Jagan the CM and not anybody else.
Sharmila: It is going to be Jagan only. I am not interested in politics or posts.
Q. Who will lead the party (in Jagan’s absence)? Will it be Jagan’s wife Bharati Reddy?
Sharmila: Several party leaders are there to look after everything and I am not completely disassociating with the party. I have already said that I will campaign in future. My sister-in-law Bharati Reddy is presently overseeing Jagan’s legal matters.
Q. How do you react to allegations by chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu that your family lives in two palatial houses near Bengaluru which have 80 bedrooms and have been constructed at a cost of `800 crore?
Sharmila: The allegations are absolutely false. It is a fact we have two houses near Yelahanka in Bengaluru which were constructed long back with all the required approvals from the BDA.
One is like a farmhouse on a huge agricultural land. I live in a house which has only five bedrooms, what is wrong in it? The cost of building, land is in the open, we have all the relevant documents, let them prove we have 80 bedrooms. My brother too has a house there. The Lotus Pond house has only four bedrooms. Anyone can check the facts, in fact, CBI teams have recorded everything, let them say.
Q. You are saying that Jagan is innocent; never committed any crimes or have been involved in any dubious affairs and amassed wealth?
Sharmila: Exactly. He is innocent and has never made any mistakes. It is all political vendetta. My dad YSR never helped Jagan with any so-called quid pro quo arrangements. Whatever he has done was in good faith for the rapid development of state.
Vijayamma: Rajasekhar Reddy garu used to tell his children to pay taxes on time and do business in a transparent manner. All his investments into his companies are legal.
Q. Do you attribute the victory of YSR Congress to the sympathy factor?
Vijayamma: It is not because of sympathy alone; people are vexed with the non-performing state government and the equally inefficient Telugu Desam. That was the reason they voted for us.
The bypoll results sent a message across the state that the people want YSR raj and not Congress raj.
Q. At a time when your family is in trouble, your closest family friends are keeping away from you, how do you react to this?
Sharmila: Power and posts changes everyone. Capstan Mama (Dr K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao) is not different. We only feel sorry about this.