Will Sharmila be Jagan Reddy's trump card in the polls?

Sharmila Reddy didn’t land on newspaper headlines with a bang. She emerged from the shadows when the same headlines took a break from splashing her brother Jagan Reddy’s CBI interrogation in a corruption case and recognised her as the YSR Congress’ last resort. A YouTube search reveals a series of interviews Sharmila has appeared in ever since she and her mother took to campaigning for their party. In one such interview she gave NDTV, Sharmila comes close to explaining why the Open magazine calls her ‘Andhra’s New Lady Love’. [caption id=“attachment_340609” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Will Sharmila prove to be Jagan’s trump card?”]  [/caption] In a polka dotted pink salwar suit, the dupatta flung carelessly over her shoulders, hair held back loosely, Sharmila is more a convincing girl-next-door than a text-book political player. As the reporter shoots questions by the dozens at her in the usual high-strung television interview pitch and energy, Sharmila neither feigns interest, nor the measured frigidity of a politician. At the best, she looks weary. Her voice is non-assertive, gently coaxing, at times mildly reminiscent of an upset young girl’s complaining. And her answers are what even most right of the centre politicians don’t venture anywhere near. “There is a God above human beings. There’s going to be justice I’m sure,” Sharmila says when she is asked what implications her brother’s arrest might have on the party and politics in the Centre and Andhra Pradesh. “We hope to get justice. If there is democracy that is. Which I have doubts about,” she adds. This could be just anyone talking – but not a political hardliner trying to fill into the shoes of a party-head. TS Sudhir, in his column for Firstpost.com noted, “Hear their speeches closely and you will realise they lack political content. It is a ‘my family has been wronged, I need justice from you’ line that is being delivered meeting after meeting. There is no talk of people’s problems, leave alone promising solutions to agricultural, weaver or community issues.” However, despite the fact that she’s not the candidate contesting the elections, her charisma and popular appeal is undeniable. She draws crowds, is the better campaigner and isn’t unused to the media attention. Open also notes , “The response to their roadshow is giving not just the Congress nightmares but also the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which was the main alternative to the Congress so far.” Married to Christian evangelist Anil Kumar, who was promoted by her father, Sharmila is not new to being in the spotlight but not in the full glare of it. Her husband, accused of getting land for mining illegally, hasn’t taken to the stage as much as his wife and mother-in-law. Several other articles noted how Sharmila is playing the sister and the daughter right to the last rule in the book. She waves replicas of a fan, like his brother used to, at road-shows. She introduces herself not as the frontrunner of a party, but a victim of a family which has been wronged. Victimhood, history will say, does translate into votes at times. She is Jagan’s sister and YSR’s daughter fighting for the family. The family, which in an Indian middle class consciousness is the last bastion of honour, something even a wimp is zealously territorial about. Sharmila knows her country well and probably knows better than stale safety-prosperity-progress speech staples, Indian politics has scavenged on for ages. The Open article quotes a 60-year-old grandmother saying “She is such a darling.” Not something you’ve heard about a political campaigner in the recent times. But whether it will count will be known on 15 June when the results are declared.