NEW DELHI, Oct 12: An effort to provide an united opposition against the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana seems to have failed with the YSR Telangana Party on Thursday announcing its decision to contest all the 119 seats ending the speculation about reaching an understanding with the Congress.
Announcing this, the YSRTP leader YS Sharmila, who is also the sister of Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, said she had waited four months for that deal. “Now no one can blame us for splitting the anti-KCR (Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao) vote. We tried our best,” she said, adding she will contest from Palair and maybe a second location too.
Ms Sharmila also said there were demand for her mother YS Vijayalakshmi and husband Anil Kumar to contest. “If needed they will also contest. My mother has said she will do whatever (is) needed to support me. She made that promise when I launched my party… that she will stand by me,” she said. Telangana will vote on November 30 and results will declared on December 3.
Two weeks ago she had said a “final decision” on any alliance with the Congress will be taken by end-September. “If no alliance fructifies, the party will contest all 119 constituencies,” the party said. YS Sharmila met Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi last month, after which she claimed “constructive discussions” and warned KCR to expect defeat. At one stage there also was talks of the YSRTP merging with the Congress and provide a straight contest against the BRS and chief minister KCR.
But Telangana Congress boss Revanth Reddy had said there was no question of her allying with the national party. Reports suggested the Congress wanted the YSRTP leader to work with her brother to revive the national party in Andhra Pradesh, which will hold an Assembly election next year. YS Sharmila ruled that out and her brother has distanced himself from her political activities.
The daughter of a former Congress chief minister, YS Rajasekhar Reddy, Ms Sharmila started the YSRTP in 2021 to bring the YSR family, or ‘Rajanna Rajyam’ to the state – in which both she and her party are electorally untested. As part of her efforts, she went on a 3,800-km state-wide march. “All my efforts are for Telangana. I am doing everything to improve the condition of the people… so they benefit from the formation of Telangana,” she said after the Delhi trip.
(Manas Dasgupta)