Hyderabad: YS Sharmila, Andhra Pradesh Congress President, recently hit out at her brother, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, over false rumors linking her to Telugu actor Prabhas. She strongly denied the allegations and accused Jagan of allowing such damaging rumors for political gain.
Speaking at a press conference, Sharmila said, “I swear on my children, I don’t know Prabhas. I’ve never met him personally. These are baseless rumors spread by Jagan’s social media team.”
She criticized her brother for not standing up for her and questioned, “If Jagan really cared for me as a sister, why didn’t he stop this false propaganda when he was Chief Minister?”
The rumors about Prabhas and YS Sharmila started during the shooting of the film Yogi in 2007. The movie was produced by Ravindranath Reddy, a relative of YS Rajasekhara Reddy, which sparked speculation about a connection between Prabhas and Sharmila.
Back in 2014, Prabhas addressed rumors linking him to YS Sharmila, sister of Jagan Mohan Reddy, with a strongly-worded statement on Facebook. Denying the allegations, he stated, “There have also been several embarrassing rumours about my alleged relationship with Ms. Y. S. Sharmila. I would like to categorically state that I have never met or spoken to Ms. Y. S. Sharmilla and the rumours in circulation are completely baseless and have not even an iota of truth in them.”
He futher added, “Earlier, I have not responded seriously to rumours concerning my health, hoping that they would fade away. I felt that ignoring these rumours was the best way to deal with them. However, I can’t ignore rumours, which affect another individual and I have now decided to issue this statement, to strongly condemn them. They are insensitive, disrespectful and are damaging to the dignity and reputation of a well respected individual who is married and a mother as well.”
“As you all know, I have no political interests. I am only issuing this statement as I am deeply hurt and I can understand the pain and trauma that can be caused to an individual by these kinds of baseless rumours and I am willing to do whatever is necessary to put and end to them once and for all.”
He concluded his statement by saying, “I hope the Police and concerned authorities will take necessary action against individuals responsible for perpetuating and spreading these kinds of rumours specific to this case and in general as they have potential to cause irreparable damage to the reputation of concerned individuals.”
