The YSR legacy rides high in Andhra, the post-split coastal state, via his son Jaganmohan. Why is daughter Sharmila making a sortie into Telangana with a new party?
It’s official—former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s daughter Y.S. Sharmila Reddy will launch her party and contest elections in Telangana. She has asked her supporters to organise a massive rally on April 14 in Khammam district, where the formal announcement about her party would be made. The date was chosen carefully. It was on this day in 2009 that her late father took over the reins of undivided Andhra Pradesh.
Even the place was chosen with care. Khammam straddles the Krishna and East Godavari districts of coastal Andhra, separated by two rivers. Moreover, in the 2014 elections, held soon after the state’s bifurcation, her brother’s party won a face-saving Lok Sabha seat in the new Telangana state, while winning eight in Andhra. The results underscore public sentiments, especially the goodwill the YSR brand name carries in Andhra Pradesh. Brother Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSRCP now rules the state.
Sharmila’s choice of state has befuddled political analysts. Why Telangana? There is gossip that she and her brother don’t get along. Then again, she stepped in for a jailed Jaganmohan to continue his Odarpu Yatra—a condolence tour launched in 2013 to console families of those who killed themselves or died of shock when they heard of YSR’s death in a helicopter crash 11 years ago. Jaganmohan was charged with money laundering and imprisoned. Sharmila stoutly denies any talk of sibling rivalry and sidesteps any question about choosing Telangana for her party launch.
The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) of chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao—or any other party for that matter—appears to be unperturbed by Sharmila’s decision. “Where is the space for a new party?” asks senior Congress leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy. The BJP—riding high after winning three Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and the Dubbaka assembly bypoll— is not bothered by any new player in 2023, including the yet-to-be-born-and-named party of the former chief minister’s daughter. “No one can take away our votes,” says BJP spokesperson K. Krishna Saagar Rao. The TRS harbours similar views. Party MP K. Suresh Reddy says: “Our party is headed by charismatic founder-leader KCR. Look at the way two established parties Congress and TDP disappeared in the state. The BJP may make some noise…that’s about it.”
But the intrigue around Sharmila holds, although unsaid. Her party might attract stragglers of other parties, especially the Congress, although it is doubtful if anyone from the BJP or the TRS will show interest. The game will be on if Sharmila offers something radically new to the people of Telangana that they can’t resist.
By M.S. Shanker in Hyderabad