Newly appointed Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Y S Sharmila on Tuesday started a whirlwind tour of the state, a precursor to the high-octane campaign the Congress is planning to launch ahead of the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

Sharmila, who took aim at her brother and Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy immediately after taking over as APCC chief on Sunday and accused him of leading the state into a financial crisis, will be following in the footsteps of her late father and former Congress CM Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, known as YSR, and Jagan, who undertook ‘padyatras’ in the state before her.

On her nine-day tour, Sharmila will travel in a convoy and cover all 26 districts in the state starting from Ichchapuram in the Srikakulam district to Idupulapaya in YSR Kadapa district. She began the journey on Tuesday in a state transport bus from Palasa to Ichchapuram, where she joined her convoy. She is being accompanied by former Telangana Pradesh Committee chief Manikrao Thakare and former APCC presidents Gidugu Rudra Raju and Raghuveera Reddy.

పలాస నుంచి ఇచ్ఛాపురం వరకు APSRTC బస్సులో ప్రయాణికులతో మాట్లాడి వారి ప్రాంతంలో జరిగిన అభివృద్ధిపై చర్చించడం జరిగింది. రాష్ట్రంలో జరిగిన అభివృద్ధిపై వైవీ సుబ్బారెడ్డి గారి సవాల్‌ని స్వీకరిస్తున్నాను. మీరు చేసిన అభివృద్ధి చూపించండి.. మీ అభివృద్ధి చూడటానికి నేను సిద్ధం.. డేట్, టైం… pic.twitter.com/kBfStw2BC3

— YS Sharmila (@realyssharmila) January 23, 2024

Speaking for the first time after his sister was appointed the APCC president, Jagan used Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu’s shoulder to train his guns on her. “Chandrababu Naidu has a number of star campaigners and sympathisers. Some of Chandrababu’s star campaigners are now in the party (Congress) that bifurcated Andhra Pradesh… Some of his sympathisers are hiding in the BJP. Chandrababu’s sister-in-law is also his star campaigner and sympathiser,” he said, referring to BJP state president D Purandeswari. Jagan was speaking at a public meeting at Uravakonda in Anantapur district, where he disbursed Aasara pensions for women on Tuesday.

Sharmila, 51, who has completed several state tours and padyatras in favour of Jagan and the ruling YSR Congress Party in the past, will be hoping to use this yatra to make some political space for herself and the Congress in a state dominated by a strong YSRCP and the alliance between the TDP and the Jana Sena Party. This time, she will be hoping to revive the fortunes of the Congress.

Congress leaders in the 26 districts have already started reaching out to former YSR supporters who have joined other parties to return to the Congress fold.

“This is the time for all YSR loyalists to join the Congress, or return to the party that my father led when he was APCC president. Time to bring back YSR rajyam,” she said while announcing her state-wide travel plan.

During her tour, Sharmila will hold review meetings with local leaders in each of the 26 districts and draw up plans to rejuvenate the Congress at the grassroots level.

“She will be drawing from her experience of the padyatra she did in Telangana to reach out to the people and hold small meetings. In the next few days we will discuss her state-wide campaign plans,” said J Goutham, APCC working president.

This is not Sharmila’s first political tour. In June 2012, after the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Jagan in an alleged quid pro quo case, she campaigned on his behalf for by-elections. That October, she started a padyatra on her own, walking nearly 3,000 km from Idupulapaya, her native village, in the YSR Kadapa district to Ichchapuram in the Srikakulam district.

Ahead of the 2019 elections, Sharmila went on an 11-day bus yatra through Andhra Pradesh in support of the YSRCP, covering around 1,500 km.

Finding no political space for herself in Andhra Pradesh after Jagan stormed to power in May 2019, she shifted to Hyderabad in April 2021 and founded the YSR Telangana Party on July 8, her father’s birth anniversary. On October 20, 2021, she started the Praja Prasthanam Yatra, a foot march across the 33 districts of Telangana. In early January this year, she merged her party with the Congress.