'Now No One Can Blame Us...': Sharmila to Fly Solo in Telangana Polls after YSRTP's Failed Talks with Congress

Sharmila announced that she is going to contest from the Palair constituency in Khammam district. “If need be, I will contest from another constituency. If the situation demands, my mother Vijayamma and husband Anil too will contest,” she declared at a press conference.

Stating that the talks fell through even after she tried for four months, the YSRTP chief said: “I wanted to go with Congress so that the anti-incumbency votes against chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao are not split. I did not want him to be the CM again, and therefore was waiting all these months. Now no one can blame us for splitting the anti-KCR votes.”

As part of the negotiations, YS Sharmila met Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in Delhi, as well as the party’s Karnataka unit president DK Shivakumar. According to sources, her possible entry divided the Congress into two camps. Her father, the former chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, was a tall leader from the Congress and the party still has members who are loyal to him. This camp was supporting Sharmila’s entry. They reasoned that the legacy of her father could help influence voters, especially in Khammam where YSR held considerable power.

In the 2014 elections, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), led by Sharmila’s brother YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, won the Wyra seat in Khammam. She was being seen as someone who could bring in women and Christian votes too. However, another Congress camp was not interested in sharing power with her. A few in YSRTP too were reportedly against the alliance. Sharmila had said earlier that she was willing to join hands with anyone who does not want KCR to become the chief minister again.

YS Sharmila undertook an extensive padayatra in Telangana between 2021 and 22. She covered over 3,000 km, talking to people on the way. The two main planks of her campaign have been the golden days of her father’s government, which she promised to bring back, and the alleged corruption in the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government.