Hyderabad: YS Sharmila the founder & president of the YSR Telangana Party is reportedly likely to join the Congress party in Andhra Pradesh.
As Andhra Pradesh heads for election in early 2024, speculations are rife that the YSRTP president and chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy’s sister Sharmila may play a key role in the Congress party in the run-up to the polls.
Congress in charge of AP, Manickam Tagore, said that the party on the direction of Rahul Gandhi is trying to connect back with those who have drifted away from the party.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Mallikarjun Kharge has been in talks with party leaders, holding coordination meetings, focusing on the Lok Sabha and state polls, to bring together those who could work for the party in the state. The Andhra Pradesh Congress leaders have communicated their views on what Sharmila’s role could be in the party for the election campaign.
Andhra leaders have also pitched Sharmila’s name to contest the Lok Sabha seat from Kadapa, reported TNIE.
However, Sharmila has been reluctant to contest directly against her brother in the state.
Sharmila & Congress partnership in Telangana
After weeks of failed negotiations and parleys with senior Congress leaders, including those from the Gandhi family, the YSRTP chief eventually on October 12 declared that her party would contest from all 119 seats in the upcoming Assembly elections on its own.
However, later she decided to withdraw from the race of the Telangana Legislative Assembly elections. She opted to back the Congress party, stating that if she had continued to contest, the votes would have been divided. Despite her reluctance to support Revanth Reddy as a chief ministerial candidate, she remained steadfast in her support for the Congress in the state.
According to YSRTP sources working closely with Sharmila, the biggest roadblock between her and the Telangana Congress unit was state party chief and Malkajgiri Lok Sabha A Revanth Reddy. Others, especially those who don’t get along with Revanth, were in fact looking forward to roping Sharmila in, especially due to her father’s legacy in the state.
It may be recalled that Revanth also did not directly negate Sharmila’s entry, but said that she is welcome to join the Congress, but in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh (AP), which she was forced to leave after her fallout with her brother and AP chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Sharmila, who was looking to carve her political path in AP, had campaigned for the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), headed by Jagan, in the 2019 AP state and Lok Sabha polls.
