YSR's death not an accident

                                                                                

YSR Congress Party honorary president Y.S. Vijayamma on Thursday upped the ante over the death of her husband Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash in September 2009 by stating that it was ‘not an accident'.

“I suspect that the chopper crash was not an accident,” she said and asked them: “Do you also feel the same?” While some shouted out: “We too have doubts,” others expressed their disapproval of the ‘crash theory' by waving their hands.

Thousands of people, mostly women, gathered to hear Ms. Vijayamma and her daughter Sharmila in the scorching heat.

She said the chopper had not been in use for three years before the accident. Moreover, there should be three route maps in the helicopter, but not even one was found after the crash.

Even if the weather was bad, the helicopter could hover in the air for two-and-a-half hours, but the blame was put squarely on the pilot and co-pilot. She said that her son Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy had complained to the Civil Aviation authorities and sought a report on the incident, but it was not given to this day.

“Don't you suspect foul play,” she asked the crowd, which promptly supported her contention.

Ms. Vijayamma said that her son's arrest before the by-poll was politically motivated to keep him away from the public. “I have never come out of my home before. I came out now to seek your support in the fight between ‘dharma' and ‘adharma.'”

The YSR Congress leaders' convoy later reached the temple town of Draksharam in Ramachandrapuram constituency of East Godavari district where large crowds greeted her.

The town was teeming with people from afternoon 3 p.m., but Ms. Vijayamma and Ms. Sharmila reached the place after 6 p.m., accompanied by party candidate Pilli Subashchandra Bose.

The crowd responded well to the speeches of Ms. Sharmila as well as Ms. Vijayamma, but when they spoke about Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy's innocence in corruption cases, it kept silent.

In contrast, the references to the late YSR and his schemes evoked enthusiastic response. The turnout of women was less when compared to Mr. Reddy's ‘Odarpu Yatra' though youth were present in large numbers.

Ms. Sharmila tried to strike a chord of sympathy when she said the family and the State had lost a dynamic leader in YSR while a young leader (Jagan) was behind bars. She accused the Congress and Telugu Desam parties of colluding in the arrest of her brother and charged the CBI with acting at the behest of the Congress high command.

from Hindu