Congress top leadership is in talks with YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) president YS Sharmila about the latter joining the Congress and merging her party with the Congress. While media reports indicated that a deal has already been worked out to merge the YSRTP into the Congress, two top sources in the party told TNM that the terms haven’t been finalised yet. However, sources close to Sharmila seem more confident and claimed that her formal entry into the Telangana Congress may even happen as early as next week.
Sharmila, who is the daughter of the late ex-Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (2004-09), has been holding talks with the Congress to flesh out a deal.
Though there was a buzz in the state over her joining the Congress a few weeks ago, the move was opposed by Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) functionaries who felt her entry may do more damage than good. A senior TPCC leader said that taking her into the state unit might cause issues as her family hails from Andhra, and this will allow the ruling Bharata Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to exploit it.
As part of the discussion, Sharmila has reportedly told that she will have to campaign in Andhra Pradesh for the Congress party. She has however not been active in Andhra ever since she began working in Telangana. It may be recalled that TPCC President and Malkajgiri Lok Sabha MP A. Revanth Reddy had also earlier said that he would welcome Sharmila into the Congress, but said that she can campaign in Andhra Pradesh. He more or less indicated that she was not welcome to the Telangana unit.
“Moreover there is a concern that she may also become a power center causing more rifts within the Congress,” the TPCC leader told TNM.
“The path has been cleared for her to join the Congress. Also, the apprehension that she will control things is silly. Last time when the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Congress had an alliance for the 2018 Telangana state polls, TDP president Chandrababu Naidu tried to control everything. But that won’t be the case with Sharmila,” said the YSRTP source.
Another Congress leader from Hyderabad also said apart from Sharmila’s joining will happen only after August 22. Apart from Sharmila, a few other BRS leaders like MLC Patnam Mahender Reddy, ex-MLA Teegala Krishna Reddy and others are also set to join the grand old party by the end of this month.