YS Sharmila-led YSRTP opts out of Telangana Assembly polls, extends support to Congress

Sharmila added that a split in the votes would hinder the efforts to dethrone Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, whose BRS has been in power in the state since its founding in 2014.

Incidentally, the TDP, too, has decided to opt out of the Telangana polls as party chief N Chandrababu Naidu has to focus on his legal battles ahead and the Andhra Pradesh elections next year.

Also read: YS Sharmila says she is ready to go it alone in Telangana

YSRTP and Congress

After the Congress’ win in the Karnataka Assembly election in May, reports said Sharmila would merge the YSRTP with the Congress in Telangana.

She even met Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) DK Shivakumar in Bengaluru. Later, she met Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on 1 September.

YS Sharmila met Karnataka Dy. CM DK. Shiv Kumar  (Supplied: X)

However, even as the talks progressed, the Telangana unit of the Congress feared that her joining the party would help the BRS in inciting anti-Andhra sentiments.

Meanwhile, Sharmila declined to work in Andhra Pradesh, where her brother is the chief minister. Instead, she evinced interest in working in Telangana.

Sharmila even issued a threat to the Congress that the YSRTP would contest the polls if the grand-old party did not announce its decision.

With no response forthcoming, she broke her silence on the merger, and on 12 October, announced that the YSRTP would contest all 119 Assembly seats in Telangana.

“To ensure that the anti-incumbency votes are not split, we have been in talks with the Congress for almost four months. We haven’t received any reply. We have put forth our best efforts,” Sharmila had told the party workers.

“Now, the YSRTP has decided to contest alone in all the 119 constituencies,” she had said.

However, in a surprising turn of events, she reversed her decision on Friday.

Also read: Section of Congress sees ‘value’ in YS Sharmila — but in AP

Sharmila’s political journey

YS Sharmila at her father’s statue in Khammam district (Supplied: YS Sharmila Twitter)

Sharmila is the daughter of the late YS Rajasekhar Reddy, former chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh.

After his death in a helicopter crash, she stayed away from contesting the polls but campaigned for Jagan till he became the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in 2019.

She, along with her mother YS Vijayamma, played a key role in managing party affairs while Jagan was in jail for over 16 months — from 2012 to 2013 — in a misappropriation-of-assets case filed by the CBI.

However, reports subsequently emerged that the brother and sister had fallen apart over their shares in the family assets and power.

In 2021, Sharmila launched the YSR Telangana Party with a promise to bring back her father’s legacy in Telangana.

Interestingly, a year later, her mother Vijayamma joined her after resigning from her son Jagan’s YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh. However, her mother was not keen on Sharmila merging the YSRTP with the Congress.

Sharmila took out a padayatra across Telangana, covering over 3,500 km to meet voters.

Ever since the padayatra, she has been making headlines with her frequent face-off with state leaders, including KCR, Telangana Congress Committee president A Revanth Reddy, and former Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar.