In an open letter to her late father YS Rajasekhar Reddy's fans, admirers and followers, Sharmila, took her brother apart with graphic details of how he tried not only to swindle her by denying shares in their family properties but also how he had resorted to her character assassination.
Published Oct 25, 2024 | 5:29 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 25, 2024 | 5:31 PM
YS Sharmila. (X)
The flaming feud between former Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and his sister and state Congress President YS Sharmila is becoming more intense with each passing day.
In an open letter to her late father YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s fans, admirers and followers, Sharmila, on Friday, 25 October, took her brother apart with graphic details of how he tried not only to swindle her by denying shares in their family properties but also how he had resorted to her character assassination.
The row between them came to the surface after Jagan Mohan Reddy and his wife YS Bharathi Reddy recently filed a petition in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Hyderabad Bench seeking its intervention for the return of shares he had put in the trust of his mother Vijayamma to be transferred to Sharmila at a later date after the resolution of court cases.
Taking a serious exception to her brother going to court, Sharmila shot off a letter to him, giving a description of how she had been denied her rightful share in the properties.
After seeing Jagan Moha Reddy’s defence of his actions in an article published in Sakshi owned by him on Friday, Sharmila released the open letter on X in which she gave a blow-by-blow account of how she had been taken for a ride and how he had sought to defame her on the social media.
In one context in the three-page letter, she said that her brother had spared no effort to stymie her rise in politics.
“I entered politics in 2021. I went to Telangana first and later came to Andhra Pradesh. He did not like my foray into public life. He made every possible effort to prevent me. Though I am a married woman with children, he had resorted to character assassination on social media. He had defamed our paternal uncle Vivekananda Reddy (who was murdered in 2019) by posting his personal pictures in Sakshi to defame him.
“In the recent elections, after the YSRCP lost power, he had thought I was responsible for his defeat. He and his camp wanted to strike a compromise with me. They sent emissaries to me. They, while saying that they do not want to have any enmity with me, however, put a condition on signing the ‘truce’ agreement. The condition was that I should not speak ill of Jagan Mohan Reddy, his wife Bharathi and Kadapa MP Avinash Reddy on any public platform. As this was in conflict with my profession in politics, I did not agree with it. They had brought a lot of pressure on me but I did not relent. This is the reason why my brother did not settle the division of the property between us,” she said.
Sharmila said that as there was popular disapproval for his action in taking her and their mother to the court, Jagan Mohan Reddy had now come out with the spiel that she was trying to get his bail cancelled.
”There is no way his bail could be cancelled since the Saraswati Power shares were not attached. The ED attached ₹32 crore worth of land. There is no relation between the transfer of shares and the attempt to cancel his bail,” Sharmila said, slamming Jagan Mohan Reddy for dragging her and their mother to court.
Sharmila said even though Jagan Mohan Reddy filed a petition in the NCLT, they kept it a secret because she did not want her mother to undergo mental agony.
“In fact, we tried to hide it. But the petition came out into the open. Why shouldn’t I suspect that Jagan Mohan Reddy was responsible for it?” she asked and insisted that he not only wanted to swindle her and her mother of their share in property but also show in the public that it was “we who resorted to the fraud.”
“How am I responsible if the letter I wrote to Jagan Mohan Reddy was released from the official X handle of the TDP? I can swear on the Bible that it was not me who had released the copy of the letter. There was no need for me to become Chandrababu Naidu’s arrow,” she said.
Sharmila said that even though the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed more than five years ago, she did not reveal it intending to protect the family’s honour.
“But now you know who is responsible if the letters between me and my brother and the NCLT petition come out in the open” she said, adding that it was the intention of her father that the property should go to his four grandchildren equally.
“My mother wrote a book on our father in which she said my father treated me as the most precious possession in his life, more valuable than even the entire world. He had given me full freedom. I did not seek anything and I was the most besotted in the family. He used to say his property should be divided into four parts for the four grandchildren,” she said underscoring the point that whatever family businesses were there, they all belonged to their father.
“Jagan Mohan Reddy, as the guardian, had the responsibility of dividing the property among the four grandchildren. This was the mandate of our father. He made this point very clear to all of us including his friend KVP Rama Chandra Rao, YV Subba Reddy and V Vijayasai Reddy,” she claimed.
She said her father’s mandate was that all the properties he had acquired — Saraswati Power, Bharathi Cement, Sakshi Media, Classic Reality, and property in Yelahanka in Bengaluru (except Sandur Power Company) — should go equally to his four grandchildren.
“When Rajasekhara Reddy was alive, not even one property was divided among the four grandchildren. After his sudden demise in 2009, no division of property took place. To date, I have not received my legitimate share of my father’s properties,” she said.
ఈరోజు పొద్దున సాక్షి పేపర్ చూశాను. సాక్షి మీడియా జగన్ మోహన్ రెడ్డి గారి చేతిలో ఉంది. కాబట్టి ఏదైనా నమ్మించగలడు. అయినా YSR అభిమానులకు అసలు వాస్తవాలు తెలియజేసే ప్రయత్నం నాది. pic.twitter.com/8ASB8jusrI
— YS Sharmila (@realyssharmila) October 25, 2024
Sharmila disputed the claim of her brother that some of the properties in question were his own.
“The claim that my father had already divided properties and gave me my share is a lie. My grandfather’s property was registered in my name. My father considered it of no value and it cannot be construed as giving my share of the property,” she said.
She also disputed Jagan Mohan Reddy’s argument that she was seeking a share in his property.
“Since my father wanted my children to have equal share in the party, I wanted the property to be divided as he desired. I do not have any interest in the property. I am interested only in seeing that my father’s intention is carried out — dividing the entire property among his four grandchildren equally,” she said.
She recalled her service to Jagan Mohan Reddy for 10 years after the demise of their father.
“I treated my brother’s problems as my own and stood by him. I carried his party on my shoulders because he is my brother. I did not attend to my family or children during this period. He treated me well in these 10 years probably because he felt he needed me. He had acted as though all the four grandchildren were equal before him,” Sharmila said.
“If Jagan said he had given me ₹200 crore, it was during this period. It was half of the profits of the company since I hold half of the company. It was not a gesture of goodwill or out of love or affection,” she said while pointing out that even that amount was shown in the records as a loan availed by her.
She said after Jagan Mohan Reddy became the chief minister in 2019, an enormous change occurred to him.
“He began neglecting me and even proposed that we go our separate ways within one month of becoming the chief minister. My mother and I had said no to the proposal. But he insisted on separating. He asked us to go to Vijayawada and said he wanted a 60 percent share of Bharathi Cement and Sakshi. Even my mother did not approve of the proposal and said if he wanted it so badly, he could take maybe five or 10 percent but definitely not more than 20 percent,” she said.
“He began bulldozing his way. Finally, it had been decided that I would get 40 percent in Sakshi, 40 percent in their 39 percent of shares in Bharthi, 100 percent in Saraswati Power, and 100 percent in Yelahanka property and the house in which our father lived. Later, the MoU was signed,” she added.
“Jagan had told me that since Bharathi Cement and Yelahanka properties were not attached, he would transfer them to me. And as regards my share in other properties, he said he would transfer them to me after the court cases were disposed of,” Sharmila said.
She said that even though the agreement had been signed in 2019, the Yelahanka property and Sarswati Power had not been transferred to her to date.
“After my mother brought pressure on him, he reluctantly transferred 52 percent of shares of Saraswati Power held by Sandur Power Company and Classic Realty after giving them to my mother in a gift deed. Later their individual shares too were gifted to our mother, she said.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
