Sharmila meets Vivekananda Reddy’s daughter Sunitha

Amaravati : Andhra Pradesh Congress chief Y.S. Sharmila on Monday called on her cousin Y.S. Sunitha Reddy amid speculation that she will be joining the Congress party.

On her first visit to home district YSR Kadapa after taking charge as the president of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), Sharmila met Sunitha Reddy. During the meeting that lasted for two hours, they discussed various issues. After the meeting they together went to the samadhi of Sharmila’s father and former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

Sunitha Reddy is the daughter of former minister Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy, who was murdered a few weeks before the 2019 elections. She has been fighting a legal battle to get justice in the case in which some family members have also been named as accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The meeting assumed significance amid reports that Sunitha Reddy is keen to join the Congress party.

Sunitha is reported to be planning to politically take on the relatives named in her father’s murder case. Kadapa MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy of YSRCP and his father Y.S. Bhaskar Reddy were named as accused in the case. Bhaskar Reddy was recently released on bail but Sunitha has challenged the bail in the Supreme Court.

It may be recalled that Sharmila had last year stated that Vivekananda Reddy was not murdered for his property as he had already written the entire property in the name of his daughter.

Sharmila, sister of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, had also slammed those making allegations against the slain former minister and former MP. “Vivekananda Reddy was a people’s man. People of Pulivendula and Kadapa district know him. He lived a simple life,” she said.

Vivekananda Reddy, brother of former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, was murdered in his house in Pulivendula on March 15, 2019, a few weeks before the elections.

The CBI had claimed that there was a conspiracy to kill Vivekananda Reddy as he was not in favour of YSRCP fielding Avinash Reddy as the candidate from the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat.

Vivekananda Reddy reportedly wanted Jagan Mohan Reddy to field the latter’s sister Sharmila or mother Y.S. Vijayamma as the party candidate. Meanwhile, the CBI court in Hyderabad on Monday adjourned the hearing in Vivekananda Reddy murder case. Avinash Reddy, Bhaskar Reddy and five other accused appeared before the court, which adjourned the hearing to February 8.