It seems the honeymoon period for YS Sharmila’s YSRTP is already over. The leaders are deserting and the crowds are thinning. Now the latest is that those in whose name she is undertaking protest fasts every Tuesday are also shunning her. Her attempts to raise the issue of unemployment-related deaths of youth is turning out to be a non-starter.

Sharmila has made it a practice to undertake a fast in selected Telangana villages to highlight the plight of the unemployed youths. She is choosing the houses of the youths who had ended their lives and is dedicating her fast to the youth who died. She is using this opportunity to mount a severe attack on the TRS government.

This Tuesday (August 24), she wanted to undertake her fast in Lingapur village in Dandepalli mandal of Mancherial district. Village lad Naresh is a graduate who failed go get a government job. Frustrated, he ended his life. Sharmila wanted to hold a fast in memory of naresh.

However, she got a shock when Naresh’s father requested her not to come to his house. He said he did not want any sympathy from her. This has left the YSRTP leaders, who were making arrangements for Sharmila’s meeting, shocked. They did not know how to react. Sources say that Naresh’s father has four sons, of whom three are working in different government departments. Naresh reportedly got worried that the protest might put the jobs of the three other sons at risk. Hence he wanted Sharmila not to visit his home and launch the dharna there.