Jagan, Sharmila pay tributes to YSR in Kadapa district on 17th death anniversary

Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president Y.S. Sharmila paid tributes to their father, former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, at his grave at Idupulapaya in Kadapa district on Wednesday (September 2, 2026), the 17th anniversary of his death. The duo visited separately, as they have since their political parting.

Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy arrived at the YSR Estates with his wife Y.S. Bharathi Reddy and other family members, garlanded the Samadhi and sat in silence for a few minutes. He also garlanded the bust of his father on the premises. “Miss you always, dad…! You will forever be my inspiration,” he wrote on X. Kadapa MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy, his maternal uncle and YSRCP Kadapa district president P. Ravindranath Reddy, and former Chandragiri MLA Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy were among those present.

Ms. Sharmila offered a garland and a wreath at the Samadhi. She called her father the “heartbeat” of the crores of Telugus who had benefited from Jalayagnam, fee reimbursement, free power for agriculture and Aarogyasri, and said the State would always remain indebted to him. “All the projects considered to be his pet schemes are hard to imagine and impossible for any other leader to implement. The schemes will always bear the imprint of YSR,” she said. She had prayed for the well-being and prosperity of the State, she said.

The man they remembered

Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh from 2004 until his death, a Lok Sabha member from Kadapa for four terms and an MLA from Pulivendula for six. He died on September 2, 2009, months after leading the Congress to a second consecutive victory, when the helicopter carrying him went missing over the Nallamala forest; the wreck was found the next day, and all five aboard were dead. Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, then a Congress MP, left the party and founded the YSRCP; Ms. Sharmila, after a party of her own in Telangana, merged it with the Congress and took over its Andhra Pradesh unit in 2024.