Y.S. Sharmila’s formal induction into the Congress party in the presences of All-India Congress Committee leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and others at the party’s crucial meeting in Delhi on January 4 brings down the curtain on speculations over her next political move.
Ms. Sharmila’s entry into the party is seen as timely, both by the party leadership in Delhi and in Andhra Pradesh where it is in dire need of a charismatic leader who could pull crowds in the upcoming elections. Ms. Sharmila’s initial desire to merge her YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) with the Congress and contest in the Telangana elections from the Palair constituency in Khammam district on the Congress ticket was reportedly turned down by senior leaders in Delhi after the then Telangana Congress president and the current Chief Minister Revanth Reddy expressed fear that this would come handy for the BRS to whip up Telangana sentiment once again and it could adversely affect the Congress’s electoral prospects.
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The Congress party and Y.S. Sharmila’s YSRTP coming together is seen as a win-win situation by political analysts here. Ms. Sharmila alone could not have done much in the current political landscape of Telangana and the situation is more or less the same with the party’s Andhra Pradesh unit.
Her entry in the Congress will help the party stake claim to the legacy of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, a two-term chief minister who died in a helicopter accident in 2008. After his untimely demise, the Congress, which was in power at the Centre, gave in to K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s demand for a separate Telangana State. But Rajasekhara Reddy’s son Jagan Mohan Reddy quit the party and formed his own outfit YSR Congress Party to govern Andhra Pradesh.
The Congress leaders see Sharmila’s entry as an opportunity to revive the party in Andhra Pradesh. AICC in-charge for Andhra Pradesh affairs Manickam Tagore and A.P. Congress president Gidugu Rudra Raju have said that many incumbent and former MLAs and MLCs were in touch with them.
At a time when discontent is apparently brewing in the ruling YSR Congress Party and the TDP is struggling to hold its influence, the Congress sees it as the right time to strike and consolidate its position in the State. The party leaders and cadre are upbeat, as they have witnessed Sharmila’s prowess as a star campaigner of the YSRCP in the past.
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Ms. Sharmila made headlines after she took up campaigning on behalf of the YSRCP along with her mother Y.S. Vijayamma, in the absence of Jagan Mohan Reddy when he was arrested in a disproportionate assets case. She kept the campaign momentum on and struck an instant chord with voters with slogans like “Bye Bye Babu”.
Her grit and determination came to the fore when she took up the 3,000 km walkathon from Idupulapaya in Kadapa district on October 18, 2021 to August 4, 2013, ending it at Ichchapuram after covering 14 districts.
But nine years later, she parted ways with her brother reportedly over political differences and started her own party in Telangana.
