Telangana polls: Snubbed by Congress, Y S Sharmila to go solo

Snubbed by Congress, YSRTP chief Y S Sharmila has decided to go solo in the November 30 polls for the Telangana Assembly.

She had announced on Thursday at a party meeting in Hyderabad that her party will field candidates in all the 119 Assembly seats. Earlier, she had sought a merger of the YSRTP with the grand old party. However, the talks between the two parties reportedly reached nowhere. Now, as the ECI announced the poll schedule, Sharmila has decided to go solo.

She herself would contest from the Palair segment in Khammam district. She had told the party leaders that there was a suggestion that she contest from another seat, on which she would take a call soon. There were also suggestions that her mother Y S Vijayalakshmi and her evangelist husband Brother Anil Kumar also contest.

Divulging the reasons for going solo, Sharmila said she approached the Congress to avoid any split in the anti-incumbency vote that would benefit BRS. Since there was no proper response from the Congress leadership, YSRTP will contest the polls alone.

Sharmila had initially moved the merger proposal through Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar. Shortly after Shivakumar took charge as Karnataka deputy CM, Sharmila met him in Bengaluru. Later she held talks with other leaders like K C Venugopal on the way forward for the merger.

It is learnt that while she has an interest in Telangana politics and wants to contest from Palair, Congress leadership had offered her the Khammam Lok Sabha seat and also to look after the party affairs in Andhra Pradesh.

She had also set September 30 as the deadline to Congress to decide on the merger proposal. Now, after almost 12 days of the deadline, she announced on Thursday that YSRTP will fight it alone.