What is delaying YSR Telangana Party's merger with Congress?

Talks with Sharmila, sister of Andhra CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy with whom she split, and the Congress leadership have been ongoing for the past few weeks.

Y S Sharmila is keen to join Congress and base herself in Telangana but the state unit’s reluctance in accepting her and central leadership’s reservations about her effectiveness in the state are delaying the merger of her YSR Telangana Party, sources said on Thursday.

Party’s election strategist Sunil Kanugolu has now been asked to give his inputs about the impact of her entry into the Telangana unit or whether she would be more effective in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, her home state, they said.

Kanugolu attended the meeting of Telangana leaders with central leadership here on June 28.

Also read | YSR Telangana Party chief Sharmila meets D K Shivakumar in Bengaluru

Talks with Sharmila, sister of Andhra Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy with whom she split and formed her own party, and the Congress leadership have been ongoing for the past few weeks but the latter is asking her to explore her shifting base to Andhra.

With the issue not finding a logical conclusion, the leadership has also not fixed Sharmila’s appointment with top leaders like Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as well as Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Earlier, there was speculation that Sharmila would merge her party on July 8, the second birth anniversary of her party, at a function in Kadapa attended by leaders like Rahul.

State leaders, including Telangana Congress president Revanth Reddy, are against her entry as she belongs to Andhra Pradesh and is the daughter of late Andhra Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who was against the creation of Telangana.

These leaders argue that Sharmila’s past statements against Telangana would be detrimental to the party’s political interests in an election year.

They also highlight that the party’s alliance with TDP, which is predominantly an Andhra-based party, in Telangana proved detrimental in the 2018 Assembly elections.

Sharmila’s meeting with Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar followed by a tweet wishing Rahul Gandhi on his birthday had earlier triggered speculation about the merger.

Jagan and her family had split from the Congress after senior Reddy’s death. Sharmila had joined Jagan’s ‘Odarpu Yatra’ to meet families of people who died of shock or who took their own lives following the death of Reddy.

However, Sharmila too fell out with her brother and formed her party in 2021. Their mother Vijayamma also resigned from YSR Congress headed by Jagan and joined hands with Sharmila.