Rahul condemns threats to Congress leader Y S Sharmila

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday, 3 February condemned the threats to his party colleague from Andhra Pradesh, Y S Sharmila, and termed it a "disgraceful act".

"Insulting and threatening women, a vile and cowardly act, is unfortunately the most common weapon of the weak," Gandhi said in a post on X.

"The Congress party and I stand firmly beside Y S Sharmilaji and Suneethaji and strongly condemn this disgraceful attack," he added.

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said certain elements in Andhra Pradesh are clearly rattled by the huge support Sharmila and the Congress are getting in the southern state with every passing day.

"The death threats and trolling against Sharmilaji and Suneethaji are highly deplorable and the entire party stands firmly with them against these pathetic attempts to tarnish their reputation and the great legacy of Y S Rajashekhar Reddy garu," Venugopal said in a post on X.

Former Union minister M M Pallam Raju said on the microblogging platform: "It is sad to see the ugly online trolling of @realyssharmila, the AP Congress chief, who has adopted the ideology embraced by her late father, Dr YSR, the popular CM of AP. Similarly, Sri YS Vivekananda Reddy's daughter Suneetha has been subjected to this pathetic abuse."

Raju also posted a media report that said Suneetha Narreddy, the daughter of former Andhra Pradesh minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy, has got a complaint lodged at the Gachibowli cyber crime police station in Hyderabad against a man for abusive and threatening Facebook posts.

Sharmila staged a demonstration at the Andhra Bhavan in Delhi on Friday to protest against the non-conferment of special category status to Andhra Pradesh and the failure to fulfil bifurcation promises.

She protested before the B R Ambedkar statue at the Andhra Bhavan and was accompanied by Manickam Tagore and senior Congress leaders from Andhra Pradesh.