Years after the family of Late Congress leader YS Rajasekhara Reddy parted ways with the Congress after falling out with his son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the family may return to the Congress fold courtesy his daughter YS Sharmila.
Speculation is rife in political circles that Sharmila’s own party YSRTP is keen on an alliance or a merger with the Congress ahead of Assembly elections in Telangana. Her meeting on Monday with DK Shivakumar, president of Karnataka Congress, has fuelled the speculation.
“Met with Shri D K Shivakumar avvaru, Hon’ble deputy chief minister of Karnataka and congratulated him on this election. We also reminisced the close association shared between my father late YSR and Shivakumar Avvaru,” said Sharmila after meeting Shivakumar.
DK Shivakumar enjoys the trust of the Gandhi family and current PCC chief A Revanth Reddy also looks up to him. Sharmila, who enjoys popularity in pockets of Khammam which has substantial population hailing from Andhra Pradesh thanks to her father’s legacy, is looking forward to an alliance with the Congress but local leaders are not keen on her inclusion.
Initially, when she had launched her new party she was branded as someone floated by the BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao to split the Congress vote bank. Last time, out of ten constituencies, BRS could win only one. Two were won by the TDP and the rest went to Congress.
After the death of YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the then chief minister of unified Andhra Pradesh in 2010, the family fell out with the Congress leadership as YS Jagan Mohan Reddy staked his claim for the chief ministership. He was not only turned down but also told to stop undertaking his yatra to console his father’s supporters.
Reddy was embroiled in CBI investigation on charges of quid pro quo during his father’s tenure. His mother Vijayamma even approached the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi to get the charges dropped during a stint in jail but was turned down.
Parting ways with the Congress, he formed his own party, YSRCP, and after the reorganization of Andhra Pradesh, went on to become the chief minister while the Congress was decimated in the state. Now, if Sharmila joins or becomes an ally of the Congress, it would come full circle for the YSR family.