‘Scared of Sharmila’s Legacy’: Congress-YSRTP Merger On Hold Till Telangana Poll

With the possibility of a merger not seeing the light of day any time soon, the YSR Telangana Party has seen quite a few exits in the last few months noticing the lack of prospects. Having entered the political fray in July 2021, the party has been in existence for just over two years.

Those watching politics closely in the state say that they are unable to ascribe a clear motive to her party’s existence. “Trust is a key factor that she does not seem to inspire. There are many in the Congress camp who believe she is the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) plant to split votes just like the Congress created actor Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) before the 2009 polls,” said S Nagesh, former journalist and now a political analyst.

Chiranjeevi is a Kapu and the Kapu community votes that used to be traditionally claimed by Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) went to the PRP and subsequently got transferred to the Congress.

The Congress was in power from 2009-2014 in then united Andhra Pradesh with N Kiran Kumar Reddy as the chief minister. If political credentials stack up against Sharmila, there are personality related concerns as well.

“The Congress prefers those that toe their line. Her aggression was on display when she was arrested by the Telangana police after an altercation with a male police officer during her sit-in protest. She refused to get out of her vehicle even as it was being towed away. This is not something that the Congress is used to,” said Koteswara Rao.

The Congress would prefer its potential joinee to play by the book and not bend the rules, Rao added.

At 49, Sharmila, with her ambition in tow, could perhaps be directly entering into a combat with many young Turks in the Congress whom the grand old party would like to evade in an election year. Konda Raghav Reddy, a former YSRTP leader who claims to have knowledge of the conversation between Sharmila and the Gandhis said, “She has been asked by the Gandhis to test the waters in Andhra Pradesh.”