YSR Telangana Party's president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy's sister, Y S Sharmila, has made a significant political decision by announcing that her party will not participate in the upcoming Telangana assembly elections. Instead, she has declared her party's support for the Congress party. This move comes at a crucial juncture, with the state's assembly elections scheduled for November 30, and the people of Telangana expressing their discontent with the current regime led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Hindustan Times reported.
Sharmila's decision to withdraw her party from the electoral race is driven by her desire to prevent the splitting of the pro-Congress vote. She believes that the revelations regarding corruption and misrule in the state call for like-minded parties to unite for the greater good of Telangana. Sharmila has stated that various surveys and ground reports have indicated that her party's participation in the elections could directly impact the Congress's vote share in many constituencies. Therefore, in the interest of the state and the broader cause of the people, the YSR Telangana Party has chosen not to contest in these elections.
Sharmila's political journey includes several rounds of meetings with top Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, where she proposed merging her party with the Congress and sought party tickets for herself and her followers. Initially, she had planned to contest the elections independently with her party, even going so far as to receive the unique election symbol of "binoculars" from the Election Commission of India.
However, there were challenges in this plan, as the Congress high command reportedly asked Sharmila to head the party in Andhra Pradesh instead of contesting in Telangana. This proposition was declined by Sharmila. With no clear response from the Congress leadership until the first week of October, Sharmila announced her party's intent to contest the Telangana elections independently.
Sharmila's decision has raised the stakes in the Telangana political landscape, as she aligns herself with the Congress against the incumbent BRS government. Senior BRS leader and state finance minister T Harish Rao has criticized Sharmila's move, reminding the public of her past opposition to Telangana's formation.
