'Telangana is Afghanistan of India'

HYDERABAD: YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) chief and AP chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy's sister, YS Sharmila, was on Sunday taken into preventive custody during her padayatra in Mahabubabad for her alleged derogatory remarks against BRS MLA Banoth Shankar Naik and shifted to Hyderabad.
Speaking to reporters here, she said her party will move the high court again for permission to resume her stalled padayatra and questioned the BRS government if women in the state had the democratic right to ask questions. Earlier, she was booked under the SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for her remark.
"I was insulted by BRS MLA Shankar Naik. I questioned his illegal land deals. They called me a eunuch. When we counter this, they arrest us," Sharmila told reporters at her Hyderabad residence.
She added: "The entire opposition, barring me, has compromised with BRS. They are unable to bear the fact that a woman is voicing the concerns of the people. Some ministers say they will send me bangles. In this state, women don't have any respect."
Reiterating that "Telangana is Afghanistan of India and K Chandrasekhar Rao Taliban", she alleged: "There is no respect for the Constitution here, only the CM's writ runs here. The situation is so dire that I need to approach the court again for yatra."
The YSRTP chief said if MLAs were really transparent, then they should come out in the open and prove their innocence.
"When we question their abuses, then false cases are being slapped," she alleged.
Sources said Sharmila might meet governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to explain the situation.
Meanwhile, BRS mandal president Lunawat Ashok has lodged a complaint against Sharmila for insulting MLA Naik. In the complaint, Ashok alleged she made derogatory remarks against the MLA, even claiming the legislator was involved in corruption, grabbing land and robbery at a public meeting in Mahabubabad on Saturday evening. He accused Sharmila of 'insulting' the legislator belonging to the ST community, through her comments during her ongoing statewide padayatra 'Praja Prasthanam'.
Police said they have cancelled permission for the padayatra, citing law and order situation, as her statement had triggered protests by BRS partymen.
"We have taken her into preventive custody and for her own safety she was shifted to Hyderabad," a senior police official said.
Sharmila's and Shankar Naik's followers had clashed after the MLA claimed she made insulting comments against him.
Incidentally, this is not the first time Sharmila had a run-in with ruling party legislators. On November 28 last year her vehicles were attacked and torched by alleged BRS workers for her remarks against the local MLA at Narsampet in Warangal district.