Sharmila raring to resume padayatra

HYDERABAD: Nearly one and half months after suffering a ligament tear on her right leg, Sharmila, sister of the jailed YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy, will resume her padayatra early in February, her personal physicians said.
A formal announcement is expected to be made after doctors examine her at a private hospital on Saturday. Sharmila hurt her right knee when she slipped while boarding a bus during the ‘Maro Praja Prasthanam’ on December 18 last year, barely 57 days into the 3,000-km march and doctors advised her three months rest.
But even before a month could finish, doctors said that she has shown remarkable progress and is keen to start her padayatra again, which experts say assumes significance with the issue of separate statehood hotting up in the state.
“She has told us that she will resume her march in the first week of February,” said Dr Raghuveer Reddy, a shoulder and knee surgeon, who headed the team of doctors who operated upon her. So far, she has covered 822 km of the 3,000 km padayatra before the injury compelled her to call off her yatra.
Sharmila took reins of the party temporarily in October last year after party leaders realised that Jaganmohan was unlikely to come out of jail any sooner with the CBI slapping fresh corruption cases against him and his bail pleas getting rejected.
Doctors who are treating her said she has been put through a progressive rehabilitation programme for the last two weeks as she is very determined to resume her walk.
“She is practising to walk and has hired a physiotherapist who has put her on a four-hour daily regimen,” said Dr Reddy.
He added that she is now trying to walk without the help of a crutch, which he said underscores her remarkable courage and determination. “Normally, people take two-and-a-half months but she has improved much. It depends on the patient’s motivation also,” added Dr Reddy, praising Sharmila’s resolve.
Doctors had found serious internal injuries in the knee after the accident warranting a surgical procedure. A keyhole surgical procedure was performed to correct grade two medial collateral ligament tear, interstitial anterior cruciate ligament tear and cartilage injury to patella and lateral condyle (round prominence at the end of a bone) of femur.
Doctors then had said that cases of this nature required approximately six weeks to recover during which patients undergo intense physiotherapy. But her injury did not dent Sharmila’s confidence and, according to party sources, she has regularly been in touch with party cadres and also her brother Jagan, who guides the party from his prison cell.
Elaborate arrangements were made when Sharmila marched through Telangana districts where she met farmers, students, women of self help groups and listened to their problems. While some critics and political opponents said the walkathon would not have any impact, Sharmila was hopeful that her long march would translate into votes for the party during the crucial 2014 assembly elections.