How Revanth blocked Sharmila's entry into Congress?

New Delhi: YS Sharmila, the younger sister of Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy, was supposed to merge her YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) with the Congress on July 8.

She had deliberately chosen the date as it was going to be the 74th birth anniversary of her father and former chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh YS Rajasekhara Reddy, popularly known as YSR.

But it didn't happen and after waiting for over four months now, Sharmila has finally decided that her party will fight on all the 119 seats in the upcoming assembly elections in Telangana. The state goes to polls on November 30 and the results will be declared on December 3.

She had met former Congress presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and held a series of discussions with the party general secretary in-charge of the organisation KC Venugopal.

Initially, the Congress leadership had promised her a party general secretary's post and a Rajya Sabha nomination to reciprocate her merger plan.

She was also keen on campaigning for the Congress in Telangana but state unit chief Anumula Revanth Reddy strongly resisted the move. He prevailed upon the leadership that she should not be given any role in Telangana, arguing that her joining would prove counterproductive for the Congress due to the anti-Andhra Pradesh sentiment in the decade-old state.

He cited the Congress party's alliance with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 2018 that ensured a smooth victory for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), now rechristened as the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

Revanth Reddy further argued that TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu was considered a staunch opponent of Telangana and hence the people wanted to teach him and his party a lesson due to which the Congress had to suffer massive collateral damage.

Revanth Reddy convinced the leadership that Sharmila's joining would be detrimental to the Telangana Congress, which he claimed is looking all set to oust the BRS from power in the state.

Accordingly, the Congress leadership asked Sharmila to go to Andhra Pradesh as the party's state unit chief and focus on reviving the Congress in the state ahead of the 2029 assembly elections.

However, Sharmila rejected the offer on the grounds that she didn't want to have any confrontation with her brother and that the people of Andhra Pradesh would not like the family of their beloved leader indulging in open mudslinging and taking their internal squabble to the streets.

Besides, Sharmila also maintained that her mother YS Vijayalakshmi would feel mentally and emotionally hurt in case she decides to take on her brother.

However, Sharmila agreed to the condition that she would neither contest nor campaign in Telangana but insisted on an honourable way out. She wanted Venugopal to come to her house and make the announcement of her decision to stay away from Telangana apart from an immediate declaration of her position and role in the Congress.

This went to and fro for many months, prompting Sharmila to issue an October 1 deadline for Congress to get back to her. However, the grand old party remained adamant on its offer, resulting in the breakdown of merger talks.

Sharmila's decision to contest all the seats in Telangana is likely to hurt the electoral prospects of the Congress as her party is expected to cut into the anti-BRS vote.

Her husband Brother Anil Kumar is a noted evangelist and has significant influence over the Telugu-speaking Christians in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. His campaign against the Congress party could help the BRS by dividing the anti-incumbency vote.

As pollsters have predicted a close contest in Telangana, every vote matters for all the political parties, and the Congress especially cannot afford to antagonise any potential ally at this juncture.

It now remains to be seen if the top Congress leadership intervenes and pacifies Sharmila to drop her Telangana plan.