The president of the YSR Telangana Party, YS Sharmila, who is making her political debut in Telangana, has already announced that she will be contesting from Palair constituency in Khammam district. Sharmila, who is the daughter of former united Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, laid a foundation stone for her camp office in Khammam and made this announcement last week. Declaring that she is the “daughter of Palair”, Sharmila said that her late father had worked immensely hard for the people in this region by constructing more than 20,000 houses in the constituency and repairing the Palair reservoir during his tenure. 

Sharmila’s decision to contest from Palair did not come as a surprise to anyone who has been following Telangana politics closely. Her election campaign too was mostly focused on the Khammam region. Political observers are of the view that she chose a “soft” seat to make her political debut. But why do analysts think that Sharmila, who launched her party just a year ago, would have a better chance at winning from Khammam district? 

According to political analyst K Nageshwar, even at the peak of the Telangana statehood agitation, Khammam had not resonated with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) sentiments because the district shares a border with Andhra Pradesh. “Khammam is impacted by the social and cultural influences of Andhra Pradesh,” he says. Along with these factors, the concentration of the Kamma community in this region has also ensured that the district remained distinct from others, he adds.

Nageshwar says that in the upcoming elections, which would be held next year, it would not be easy for the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party to win in Khammam constituencies. “BRS did not get good results in the 2014 elections from Khammam. To fill these gaps, leaders like Thummala Nageshwar Rao and Ponguleti Srinivas were brought into the party fold. Even then, in the subsequent elections, they did not make a huge impact. Khammam has always been a challenging district for the BRS,” he says.

Another political observer Palwai Raghavender Reddy is of the opinion that Sharmila is contesting from Palair because, in that constituency, it does not matter if she hails from Telangana or Andhra. “Her nativity is unlikely to be an issue here. Another reason she chose Palair could be the impact her father left on the region. YS Rajasekhara Reddy did a lot of good work and is widely respected there,” he says.

Sharmila, who has previously spoken against the bifurcation of the united Andhra Pradesh, has been facing criticism for her presence in Telangana politics despite being a non-native. The leader would soon resume her padayatra.

Meanwhile, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu is also likely to tour Telangana ahead of the upcoming elections. Naidu is expected to begin the campaign from Khammam as the constituency has a huge population of Kammas, the community which the TDP president belongs to.