Amid speculations of a merger between the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Telangana Party (YSRTP) and the Congress, Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy said that there is no space for YSRTP Chief YS Sharmila in the state and suggested that she should instead remain on her home turf of Andhra Pradesh.
“There is no place for YS Sharmila in Telangana. Her home turf is Andhra Pradesh. If a person from Andhra Pradesh gets a position here, he or she will attract a wild reaction from the people of Telangana,” Reddy was quoted as saying by the India Today on Thursday.
While he dismissed mergers with the party, Reddy said Sharmila is welcome to join the Congress and work with senior leader Rahul Gandhi.
“Even the last wish of her father, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, was to make Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister of India. She can contest elections from the Kadapa seat,” Reddy said while clarifying that are no talks about the YSRTP leader joining the Congress yet.
While YSR had advocated for a united Andhra Pradesh, after the bifurcation of the state in 2014 into Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Sharmila’s association with Andhra Pradesh could potentially work against her in Telangana, a report by the Times of India read. As the YSR family originates from Andhra Pradesh, there is a possibility that she may be perceived as an “outsider” in Telangana, which could impact her political prospects in the region.
The State Congress chief said Sharmila can be a star campaigner and a national leader for the Congress. However he dismissed her role in Telangana stating, “When it comes to Telangana, there is no place for her. Only a person from Telangana can lead a Telangana party.”
Senior Congress leader and former union minister Renuka Chowdhury has termed the merger as “political opportunism”. “Let us see, these are all political opportunities and opportunism that they take to establish their own credential,” she told IANS.
The developments came as Sharmila was scheduled to meet top All India Congress Committee (AICC) leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, on Thursday to finalise the YSRTP’s merger with the grand old party, according to an Indian Express report.
As per the report, YSRTP is likely to merge with the Congress next month on July 8 – the party’s foundation day.
Meanwhile, YSRTP chief spokesperson Konda Raghava Reddy told the publication that Sharmila will continue to focus on Telangana politics. “The merger of YSRTP with Congress is unconditional. What roles, if at all, would be given to YSRTP leaders by the Congress is not known. Whether Sharmila would be accepted by leaders of Telangana Congress is also not known,” he was quoted as saying.
In May, there were political speculations suggesting that Sharmila had been approached by the Congress with an offer of a Rajya Sabha seat. Top sources within the YSRTP told News18 that the Congress high command, specifically, Priyanka Gandhi’s team, has been in touch with Sharmila in a bid to persuade her to join forces with the Grand Old Party.
As per reports, she was offered the opportunity to lead the party in Andhra Pradesh, where the Congress lacks strong leadership and a cadre base to effectively counter Sharmila’s brother, Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Sharmila dismissed reports alleging her assumption of the role of Congress chief in Andhra Pradesh and denied receiving any proposal to accept a Congress Rajya Sabha ticket from Karnataka.
In a tweet, she asserted that she would stay committed to Telangana till her last breath.
“I was always in Telangana and will be in Telangana till my last breath. I request speculators to stop making paper plans about my future and instead write about the issues pertaining to the people of my state Telangana and highlight the misrule and massive corruption of KCR, his family and his party members. My future lies in Telangana and with its people,” she said in a tweet.
Both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are headed for assembly elections in less than a year.
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