Hyderabad: The suspense over YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) chief YS Sharmila supposedly joining the Telangana Congress unit is likely to end on July 8, the 74th birth anniversary of her father and late Andhra Pradesh (joint-state) chief minister. While it has been speculated that she is parlaying with the grand old party for a position in the state unit, the Congress has not yet confirmed the same.
According to YSRTP sources, it has been learnt that so far there has not been a positive response with regard to Sharmila’s joining. While senior Congress leaders over the past few weeks said that they are in touch with her, so far there has not been any clarity of her merging the YSRTP with the Congress. In fact, last month, Sharmila denied media reports that she would join the Congress in AP and take over as party chief.
The YSRTP supremo floated her outfit after a fallout with her brother and AP chief minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy after the 2019 state and general elections. Jagan, who quit the Congress and started the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in 2011, won the state polls with a staggering majority of 151 out of 175 Assembly seats handing the then ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) one of its worst defeats.
Telangana Congress leaders, who did not want to be quoted, also said that while being YSR’s daughter certainly gives Sharmila leverage, there is also the issue that Bharata Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supremo and Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) may use her to target the grand old party in the upcoming state polls.
In the run up to the 2018 state elections, KCR targetted the Congress for joining hands with an “Andhra” party, since it had an alliance with the TDP (which is led by former AP chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu who is from Chittoor district in AP). As Sharmila was working with her brother in the YSRCP until 2019, KCR can easily use her joining the Congress to do the same in the 2023 state polls.
Moreover, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president and Malkajgiri Lok Sabha MP A Revanth Reddy also indirectly said that Sharmila may not be welcome in the Telangana unit. He stated that she is welcome to join the party in AP, but that no person from Andhra could be given a position here.
“The Congress in Telangana is still using YSR’s legacy, which is visible in the way Congress leaders are appropriating the former in terms of mannerisms. Rajasekhara Reddy is still a factor in places where Reddys have influence like Nalgonda and Mahbubnagar. Taking Sharmila will be a positive for the Congress, but Revanth would however want his own brand to be visible. He will not accept YSR’s legacy,” said a political observer who did not want to be named.
Revanth Reddy himself joined the Congress from the TDP in 2018, where he was the working president. He was given the same position in the grand old party as well, and eventually went on to become the TPCC chief.
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