Putting speculation to rest, YSR Telangana Party founder Y S Sharmila on Thursday announced that her party will contest on all 119 seats in Telangana after the Congress did not reciprocate to her proposal of a merger.
Sharmila, who will contest from Palair constituency, indicated that she may also fight from a second seat. She said her mother Y S Vijayamma and husband Anil will also contest the November 30 polls.
Speaking at a party meeting, she noted that she did not want the anti-incumbency vote to split in the southern state and hence had sent feelers to the grand old party for an alliance.
“We had talks with the Congress to keep the anti-BRS vote intact, otherwise KCR (BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao) will become the chief minister for the third time. We waited for the Congress for almost four months,” she said.
The YSRTP leader said her supporters wanted her to contest from two constituencies. Apart from Palai, she may contest from Miryalaguda in Nalgonda district, sources said.
Sharmila had approached the Congress through Karnataka PCC chief D K Shivakumar and even met the Gandhis in Delhi for a possible alliance.
Her entry into the Congress was, however, thwarted by PCC chief A Revanth Reddy, who instead pushed for the candidature of ex-BRS MLA Thummala Nageshwar Rao. Rao was also keen on the Palair seat but he was denied the BRS ticket by KCR since he had lost the last election.
Rao joined the Congress in the presence of party president Mallikarjun Kharge last month.
Sharmila can be a force to reckon with in Khammam district which has a large population of settlers from Andhra Pradesh as well as in adjoining Nalgonda. In the 2018 polls, Khammam eluded the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) with the ruling party getting only one out of 10 seats. The Congress won six seats while the TDP won two but the latter promptly joined the BRS.
Meanwhile, the Left parties which have a large following in Khammam have decided to ally with the Congress.