Hyderabad: Y.S. Sharmila, sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, is set to join the Congress and merge the YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) which she had launched in 2021.
She is expected to be given a prominent position in the All India Congress Committee (AICC) or made the Andhra Pradesh unit chief, YSRTP general secretary Thudi Devender Reddy said Tuesday.
While the talk last year was that Sharmila, daughter of united Andhra Pradesh’s former Congress chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), would join the party, the buzz now is that her political activity would be focused in Andhra Pradesh, where her elder brother is the chief minister.
Andhra Pradesh will go to the polls this summer simultaneously with the general elections.
On Tuesday, Sharmila held a concluding round of consultations with YSRTP leaders at her residence in Hyderabad. The joining would be soon in all likelihood this Thursday, Thudi told ThePrint after the meeting.
“The process of YSRTP merger with Congress is in the final stage. Sharmila has decided to go to Delhi Wednesday, and an announcement on merger, future courses will be made there,” said a brief official statement from the party.
Thudi, however, told ThePrint that Sharmila, is scheduled to meet Sonia and Rahul Gandhi Thursday morning and that AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge would later formally welcome her into the party.
“Some negotiations are still on. Sharmila is being offered a key position in AICC, or the role of Andhra Pradesh Congress chief. She is considering both. One prospect certain as of now is her Rajya Sabha nomination from Karnataka,” Thudi said.
In the evening, Sharmila’s family offered prayers at the YSR grave Idupulapaya near Kadapa, seeking blessings ahead of her son Raja Reddy’s wedding next month.
“We sitting out the Telangana elections, extending support has eased the Congress win in over 30 constituencies. The Congress leadership has valued our sacrifice and welcomed me into the party. I too have no objection in working with the largest secular party in the country,” said Sharmila later .
“In fact, I am going to Delhi tomorrow. All your questions will be answered in a day or two,” Sharmila said as reporters asked about her role in AP politics.
After parting ways with Jagan early 2021, Sharmila formed the party named after her father on 8 July (YSR’s birthday) that year. While Jagan successfully claimed the YSR legacy in Andhra Pradesh, Sharmila stated her objective was to revive Rajannna Raajyam (reference to YSR’s popular welfare-oriented regime) in Telangana.
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‘YSR’s daughter welcome’
Andhra Congress leaders are confident about the party’s revival with the entry of Sharmila and she leading a vigorous campaign. She had earlier canvassed for Jagan’s YSRCP energetically across the state, drawing large crowds to the poll rallies.
But Sharmila’s own electoral strength and vote-pulling capacity has not been tested as she has not contested any polls till now.
Following the Andhra Pradesh bifurcation, the Congress, since 2014 polls, has been wiped out from the assembly and Lok Sabha in the truncated state where it had earlier won in 2004 and 2009 polls.
At a party meeting at Amalapuram Monday, Congress state chief Gidugu Rudraraju said that the leadership has already conveyed the decision to take Sharmila in, “and they are wholeheartedly welcoming late YSR’s daughter into the Congress.”
“The state unit leaders are unanimously welcoming the decision and Sharmila’s entry. Now, what role, responsibility she would be given, and how her services would be utilised is the high command’s call,” APCC working president Shaikh Mastan Vali told ThePrint.
Gidugu is hopeful of YSRCP dissenters joining the Congress, adding that several sitting and former legislators “are in touch with the party.”
YSRCP Mangalagiri MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy, who recently quit the party in protest of Jagan removing him as constituency in-charge, last week extended support to Sharmila. He is likely to join the Congress with Sharmila.
Futile mission in Telangana?
YSR’s widow Y.S. Vijayamma has been supportive of Sharmila’s venture in Telangana. On 8 July 2022, she announced resignation from the YSRCP honorary president post in the presence of Jagan at the party plenary near Vijayawada.
Earlier, Sharmila had made the former Telangana CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao and the BRS leaders, legislators her principal target of political attacks. She also went on a 3,800 km padayatra across Telangana, all the while drawing sharp reactions from the then ruling party with her caustic remarks.
From earlier last year, Sharmila appeared veering towards the Congress, hopeful of a merger or an alliance. The talks of an alliance or a merger with the Congress gained traction since Sharmila met Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar in Bengaluru in May. She had on 31 August met Sonia and Rahul in New Delhi.
The plan was shelved as Telangana Congress leaders expressed divergent views over her inclusion in any form especially ahead of the state polls. TPCC chief Revanth Reddy had made public his opposition to Sharmila as “a person from Andhra.”
Sharmila then announced to go alone in the Telangana polls, adding she would be in fray from Palair segment in Khammam, an area adjoining Andhra Pradesh. But in early November, she withdrew from the contest, declaring her support for the Congress.
“When Sharmila shifts to AP, Telangana natives like me would rejoin the Congress here,” Thudi, from the Nalgonda region, whose family has been tradionally with the Congress, said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)