New Delhi: YSR Telangana Party chief Y.S. Sharmila joined the Congress Thursday, and announced the merger of her outfit with the national party.
She is the daughter of veteran Congress leader and undivided Andhra Pradesh chief minister, late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), and the sister of present Andhra CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
At the function in Delhi, Sharmila said it was her father’s dream to see Rahul Gandhi as the prime minister of India. “I am very glad that I am going to be a part in making that happen,” Sharmila said, adding that she would fulfill any responsibility the Congress gave her with “loyalty, integrity and diligence”.
Sharmila joined the Congress in the presence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, saying the party was “still the largest secular party of our country and it has always upheld the true culture of India and built foundations of our nation”.
Her brother Jagan had floated his own party, YSRCP, in Andhra after falling out with the Congress two years after his father’s death in 2009.
Sharmila, who was previously the national convener of YSRCP, parted ways with her brother in July 2021 and floated her own outfit in Telangana.
Ahead of the Telangana assembly elections held in November last year, Sharmila had stayed away from the polls as she “did not want her candidates to split the pro-Congress votes”.
It is understood that Sharmila took the plunge after reconciliatory talks with her brother to rejoin the YSRCP failed. Jagan had apparently sent his uncle MP Y.V. Subba Reddy to act as a go-between.
Sharmila’s entry into Congress will set up a direct duel with Jagan in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Andhra Pradesh.
Having won Telangana in the assembly polls, the Congress is also looking to bring back some of its old glory in Andhra where it has been non-existent ever since the state’s bifurcation in 2014.
Also read: Jagan’s sister Sharmila set to merge party with Congress as it looks to revive fortunes in Andhra