New Delhi: Union Minister and Telangana BJP Chief G Kishan Reddy on Thursday said that it is for the common people of the country to decide on who will become their prime minister and right now they were not willing to make the Congress MP Rahul Gandhi with his ‘fundamentally failed formula’ as their leader.
Reddy’s remarks followed the assertion by YS Sharmila, the daughter of former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy that it was her father’s dream to make Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister of the country.
“The people are not willing to do that. It cannot be done by Sharmila ji or anyone else. The common people have to do it for anyone to be the PM. But his (Rahul Gandhi) formula is a failure. Rahul Gandhi’s medicine is a failure. His formula is fundamentally a failure,” the Telangana BJP Chief told reporters on Thursday.
Earlier today, Sharmila merged the YSRTP with Congress in the presence of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge at the event held at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters here.
“It was my father’s dream to make Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister, and I will work towards it,” she said.
Sharmila is the sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Addressing supporters after joining the Congress party, Sharmila said, “Today, I’m very happy to be merging YSRTP into the Congress party. It gives me immense joy that the YSR Telangana party is going to be a part of the Indian National Congress from today.”
Sharmila emphasized the Congress party’s contributions to the nation and called it the “largest secular party” in the country.
“The Congress party is still the largest secular party of this country. Congress has always upheld the true culture of India and built our nation’s foundation. It has unwaveringly served all communities uniting all sections of people in India,” Sharmila said.
She asserted that her father would be happy to see her following in his footsteps.
During the recent assembly elections in Telangana, YS Sharmila constantly rendered her support to the Congress party. She clarified that she did not contest the polls as it would have led to the splitting of votes. The YSR Telangana party was founded by Sharmila in July 2021.
YS Rajasekhara Reddy died in a helicopter accident in 2008 after which his son Jagan Mohan Reddy formed his own party.
Congress won an absolute majority in Telangana for the first time, winning 64 of 119 seats. Bharat Rashtra Samithi, which ruled India’s youngest state for 10 years, won 38 seats.
As per party sources, Sharmila is likely to be given a key post in the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and also in the run-up to the Andhra Pradesh state assembly elections.
