N. Rahul 
Hyderabad: Y.S. Sharmila, the daughter of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy who recently joined the Congress, has been appointed as the president of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee on Tuesday, January 16.
Her predecessor Gidugu Rudraraju had stepped down from the post a day before to pave the way for her elevation.
The development was on expected lines after Sharmila had made known her plans to disband her YSR Telangana party in the neighbouring state of Telangana and join ranks with the Congress primarily to take on her brother and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.
It is well known that the siblings have been on a war path over the past few years, as Sharmila nursed her political ambitions but her brother would not let another power centre grow within the family. She had reason to stake claim to play active politics as she had vigorously campaigned for the YSR Congress party of Jagan in Andhra Pradesh in his absence due to imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case against him booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Handing over the reins of the party to Sharmila ahead of parliament and elections to the state Assembly, the Congress has shown its desperate attempt to gain some foothold in residual Andhra Pradesh post-bifurcation of the erstwhile state. The party has become non-existent in Andhra Pradesh after Telangana was carved out in 2014.
At least in Telangana, the Congress could claim people’s mandate on the ground that it created the state which was a historical demand. The party, however, earned a negative image in AP as people felt they were divided much to their disadvantage. The Congress lost every election in the last 10 years with abysmally poor performance in AP.
Also read: Y.S. Sharmila’s Entry Into Congress Would Chill Jagan Reddy as it Renews Fight for YSR’s Legacy
Due to her strained relations with Jagan, the Congress found in Sharmila the right choice to serve its interests in a bid to revive the party in the state with a known political figure and also provide her a platform to take on her brother. Thus, the interests of Sharmila and Congress converged.
How successfully she will steer the party, analysts feel, will depend on how vigorously she will campaign. But, the first inhibition to that should come from her own blood relationship with her brother because she might not attack him like any other political rival.
Also, she is not expected to create any impact if she does not contest upcoming elections. She must also win back at least a section of the former ministers, MPs, and MLAs who deserted the party to put a semblance of fight in elections. It is a long and arduous task but at least a journey of the party to make a comeback could begin though there is no political space for Congress with the ruling YSR Congress juggernaut on one side and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on the other side of the political spectrum making a strong bid to return to power.
The Congress, if it manages to make a mark under Sharmila’s leadership, could at best split anti-incumbency vote between TDP, BJP, and actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan’s Janasena. Her appointment is not without a wild reaction from supporters of YSR Congress which claims it could be counterproductive to Congress.
Chairman of AP Media Academy, Kommineni Srinivas Rao, said Sharmila was a failure as a politician because she had rescinded her goal of dethroning the K. Chandrasekhar Rao government in Telangana. After making a tall promise that she would not exit Telangana and abusing Telangana Congress committee president A. Revanth Reddy, she conveniently not only joined the party but shifted to AP. She even picked up soil from the ground and spilled it over her head at a public meeting in Alair of Telangana to demonstrate her strong links with the state.
A political analyst from Andhra Pradesh Pentapati Pulla Rao said Congress could not hope worse to happen by her appointment as the party was out in the state and forfeited deposit in all previous elections.
However, her elevation showed the intention of Congress to induct fresh blood into the leadership by sidelining old warhorses. It was also proved in the selection of Revanth Reddy as chief minister following the victory of the party in Telangana.