Jagan lacks manners, says sister Sharmila over saree remark

Guntur (Andhra Pradesh): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy's sister and state Congress chief Y. S. Sharmila Reddy hit back at him on Thursday over his comments on her wearing a yellow saree to suggest her closeness to the TDP, which uses the colour.

Sharmila said that Jagan Mohan Reddy lacked basic manners as he was speaking about his own sister.

Addressing an election rally in Guntur, the Congress leader took him to task for speaking about her dress in front of thousands of people at the public meeting.

“He is saying I knelt before Chandrababu (Naidu), I wore a yellow saree, and I am reading Chandrababu’s script. Is Chandrababu having a patent right over yellow colour," Sharmila asked, reacting strongly to remarks made by Jagan Mohan Reddy at a public meeting in Pulivendula in Kadapa district earlier in the day.

Apparently referring to Sharmila’s meeting with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N. Chandrababu Naidu a few months ago to invite him to her son’s wedding, he remarked that those donning a yellow sari (TDP’s party colour) and reading the script prepared by the TDP cannot assert ownership over Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s legacy.

YSR, as Rajasekhara Reddy is popularly known, was Chief Minister of combined Andhra Pradesh from 2004 to 2009 and the father of Jagan Mohan Reddy and Sharmila.

Sharmila said Jagan Mohan Reddy forgot that in the past, the ‘Sakshi’ channel had a yellow colour.

"YSR Garu himself had said yellow is an auspicious colour. He had also said that the yellow colour is not a property of the TDP. He himself chose yellow for Sakshi," she said.

She remarked that it was Jagan Mohan Reddy who read out the script given to him.

"I am YSR’s child. I don’t need to kneel before anybody,” she said, telling Jagan that it is he who knelt before the BJP.

"Jagan Reddy is the adopted son of Narendra Modi. Jagan Reddy is not YSR’s successor but Modi’s successor," she said and asked if he ever opened his mouth on the state's interests.

On Jagan Mohan Reddy’s allegation that Congress added YSR’s name to the CBI charge sheet, Sharmila claimed that it was he who got YSR’s name added to the charge sheet to save himself in the disproportionate assets case. She said the lawyer, who got the YSR’s name added to the chargesheet at Jagan Mohan Reddy’s instance, was later rewarded by him with the post of Advocate General.