Hyderabad: Y.S. Sharmila’s entry in Congress has confirmed that her family, comprising her elder brother and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, is divided.
Until now there was an impression in the public mind that Jaganmohan Reddy was leading his Yuvajana Sramika Rythu (YSR) Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh and Sharmila confined to Telangana as the head of YSR Telangana Party, with both carrying on the legacy of their late father and former chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. She went ahead with her political activity without disturbing her brother’s position in spite of rumblings within the family that came to light after Sharmila floated her own party in 2021.
Nonetheless, Sharmila is joining the Congress at a time when the party is on the verge of collapse in Andhra Pradesh. The party forfeited deposit in all seats where it contested in 2014 and 2019 assembly and general elections. In this context, her joining the Congress is viewed as a win-win situation for the party and herself as she might be able to breath some life into the party while cultivating her own political ambition.
She is tipped to be either the president of the Andhra Pradesh unit of the Congress or made general secretary of the All India Congress Committee to look after Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. She was also reportedly sounded out for membership of the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka.
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Sharmila told media persons before leaving for Delhi that her YSR Telangana aided the victory of the Congress in Telangana by withdrawing from contest. The fact that the Congress won 31 out of its total tally of 64 seats with a margin of less than 10,000 votes proves her point. Otherwise, YSR Telangana would likely have pulled all those votes, denying victory to the Congress.
Sharmila had extended unconditional support to the Congress in the recent assembly elections in Telangana after meeting Congress veteran Sonia Gandhi and former party president Rahul Gandhi. She recalled her father’s journey with Congress and said that it was one of the reasons she backed out of the assembly elections in a bid to defeat the Bharat Rashtra Samithi.
She had dropped hints of merging her party with the Congress but there was no confirmation until today.
A senior political figure from Andhra Pradesh said that Sharmila was looking for a platform to counter her brother ever since she was denied her rightful share in YSR Congress’s victory in the 2019 assembly elections.
She had campaigned for the party in the elections and taken up a 3,100 km long padayatra in the absence of Jagan after he was sent to jail in a corruption case a decade ago. She also led the party to victory in 15 out of the 18 assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh that went to by-elections in 2012.
But Jagan had not recognised her contribution and, on the other hand, set up obstacles in her path after assuming power. Sharmila’s husband and evangelist Brother Anil was quoted as telling a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader B. Tech Ravi in a flight from Kadapa to Vijayawada on Wednesday that his wife was not at all interested in Andhra Pradrsh politics but took a plunge in it due to the hardship created by Jagan. B. Tech Ravi is former MLC of Andhra Pradesh. Brother Anil was heading to Vijayawada to extended an invitation for the wedding of their son to Jagan and his wife. Sharmila’s meeting with Jagan lasted a mere 15 minutes at his residence in Tadepalli near Vijayawada.
Brother Anil reportedly told B. Tech Ravi that Sharmila always felt it was not right for her to dabble in Andhra Pradesh’s politics when her brother was the chief minister. Therefore, she maintained a distance. But it had become inevitable for her to join politics in the state due to Jagan’s attitude.
Y.S. Sharmila with Sonia Gandhi.
The politician, on condition of anonymity, said Sharmila wanted a political party as a launchpad to nurse her ambition. That was how she floated the party in Telangana and took up a 3,800 km padayatra, her second walkathon, which received good public response. This was despite knowing that there was no political space for her in Telangana as she had roots in Andhra Pradesh. When a party like TDP was wiped out in the political landscape of Telangana, there was hardly anything that she could achieve in the state.
He referred to the pattern in a democratic set up of a ruling party, the principal opposition party and a third party that could step in if the latter failed to deliver. The exception to the norm could be the emergence of a strong sub-regional party or a caste-based party that could alter the matrix. In Telangana, there was no way the YSR Telangana could overtake Congress or the BJP to challenge the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS).
At the same time, the TDP was so strong in Andhra Pradesh that there was no place either for BJP or Congress. The people had rejected Congress post-bifurcation of the erstwhile state as they strongly believed that the party had conceded to Telangana at their cost.
Telakapalli Ravi, a political analyst from Andhra Pradesh, said Sharmila’s entry in Congress could be a matter of embarrassment for Jagan politically because she was throwing a challenge to the legacy of their father inherited by her brother. She was adding on to the wave of anti-incumbency faced by the TDP which is already suffering after the party extended its hand of friendship to the Jana Sena headed by actor turned politician Pawan Kalyan.
In a way, Jagan must be happy that the anti-incumbency vote will be split if Congress gains due to its bond with Sharmila. It will also expose the double or ‘triple’ standard of the BJP which has already tied up with Jana Sena as partners in the National Democratic Alliance, and the Jana Sena entering into an understanding with the TDP to dislodge YSR Congress. This was some kind of an arrangement on the same lines as the INDIA bloc.
Ravi also said Sharmila will be adding a sentimental touch to the family moorings in the Congress carrying the image of Rajasekhara Reddy.
The national media advisor to AP government Amar Devulapalli said Congress roped in Sharmila to keep a check on Jagan using Rajasekhara Reddy’s image but the party was decimated and there was no way it could make an impact.
Professor K. Nageswar, a political analyst, said damage will be done to YSR Congress even if Sharmila could lead the Congress to wean away a small chunk of votes from the former party.