BJP dividing people in name of religion: Sharmila

Bapatla (Andhra Pradesh), April 23: Congress' Andhra Pradesh unit President Y.S. Sharmila Reddy on Tuesday accused the BJP of dividing people in the name of religion.

Alleging that the BJP poses a big threat to the country, she slammed Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu for hobnobbing with such a party.

Addressing an election rally, Sharmila criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for alleging that if Congress comes to power, mangalsutras of women will not be safe, saying that it is unbecoming of a person holding the office of the Prime Minister to make statements creating division among people.

Sharmila said while Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was speaking to spread love, PM Modi was speaking to create divisions and dared him to seek votes on the basis of the development works undertaken by him.

She also lashed out at the YSR Congress Party government headed by her brother Jagan Mohan Reddy for corruption and irregularities.

Claiming that in 10 years, the TDP and later, the YSRCP destroyed the state, she said: "Nothing is left. They turned Andhra Pradesh into a state without a capital."

Sharmila said in the last 10 years, both parties failed to fight for special category status which is the right of the state, adding that if the special status had been accorded, there would have been huge development during the last 10 years.

She remarked that both Jagan Mohan Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu are not sincere on special status, and did not even take the BJP to task for betraying people on the promise of special status.

"Jagan is not a lion but a cat. He ignored the state development and joined hands with the BJP," she said.

She alleged that Jagan Mohan Reddy failed to fulfil a single promise during the last five years. She said he betrayed people after promising 2.25 lakh jobs. She said during the last five years, he "built forts to live in" there but never bothered to address people’s problems.

She said that Jagan Mohan Reddy calls his manifesto a holy scripture but he failed to implement the problems of total prohibition. "Why is the government selling spurious liquor and playing with people's lives," she asked.