Hyderabad: While Y S Sharmila failed to merge her YSRTP party with Congress, Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) headed by Prof Kodandaram has decide to forge an alliance with it.
Prof Kodandaram, who met Congress national leader Rahul Gandhi in Karimnagar on Friday, sought support of Congress to ensure “a democratic Telangana State and end of autocratic rule.”
Rahul Gandhi has responded positively and sought TJS support in the State, he said.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee President A Revanth Reddy and other senior Congress leaders accompanied Kodandaram.
Asked if he had discussed seat sharing, Kodandaram denied any such discussion. “No, we did not discuss about it,” he asserted.
Congress is trying to forge alliance with all like-minded parties in the run up to 2023 assembly elections.
Failed YSRTP merger with Congress
Y S Sharmila, daughter of former Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, Y S Rajasekhar Reddy was keen to merge her Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Telangana Party (YSRTP) with Congress.
However, after much publicity and meetings, the merger has come a cropper, forcing Sharmila to go solo in Telangana State.
Sources in Congress said Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee President A Revanth Reddy and few other Congress leaders found merger of YSRTP would cause more harm than good to the party in Telangana State.
They not only opposed the merger but also cautioned the party high command that if Sharmila undertakes tour of Telangana, where Congress has bright chances, Chief Minister and BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao will cash on it and remind voters about then Rayalseema’s leaders’ strong opposition to bifurcation of Telangana State.
“The merger talk ended at the preliminary stage itself. In fact, there was misunderstanding and communication gap that led to YSRTP merger hype,” a Congress leader claimed.
Sharmila had met Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in Delhi, party’s Karnataka unit president and present Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.
“Opinion was divided from day one of the merger talk. Some close to Rajasekhar Reddy wanted her to be in Congress saying YSR sympathisers in the State will to go with her and it will help Congress especially in Khammam and other places where there are settlers, while another group opposed it. TPCC chief had strongly opposed her entry and explained reasons to high command. The allotment of Palair and other seats were mere speculations and not true,” another senior Congress disclosed.
Sharmila waits in vain, dumped
After four months of wait, Sharmila who sensed nothing concrete coming from Congress High Command, finally called it quits and announced her party would go solo in Telangana.
Sharmila announced she will contest from Palair assembly constituency in Khammam district. “I may contest from another constituency also and if situation demands, my mother Vijayamma and husband Anil too will contest,” she told media.
A disappointed Sharmila said she waited for four months to merge her party with Congress only to see that the anti-incumbency votes against BRS chief and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao were not split.
“I did not want him (KCR) to be the CM again. I waited all these months but there was no response. Now no one can blame us for splitting the anti-KCR votes. The choice is theirs,” she added.
In the 2014 elections, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), brother of Sharmila, won the Wyra seat in Khammam.
YSR Congress Party has announced party candidates for 79 assembly seats and 13 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana.
Sharmila kept away from Andhra Pradesh politics where her brother is CM and focussed in Telangana State. Sharmila launched padayatra in Telangana 2021-22 and walked over 3,000 km like her father and interacted with people enroute and ascertained their problems.
She reminded YSR’s golden rule in undivided AP, his welfare schemes including free power to farmers, Medicare etc. and promised to bring back “Rajanna Rajyam” and end autocratic, corrupt KCR rule.
Though her padayatra raised eye brows, YSRTP steam fizzled out. Sharmila is undeterred and trying hard to gain foothold in Telangana State.
