In a big boost for the Congress party’s prospects in Andhra Pradesh in the run up to this year’s Lok Sabha elections.
YS Sharmila, daughter of late Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and sister of incumbent CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, will join the Congress in New Delhi on Thursday, functionaries said.
The Congress party had been negotiating with Sharmila for the past one year and she was earlier scheduled to join in a rally in Hyderabad in September. “But negotiations could not be finished in time,” said a senior leader.
Sharmila is a founder of YSR Telangana party — an unrecognised regional party based in Andhra Pradesh. Her party, founded in July 2021, doesn’t have any elected representatives in the state or Parliament.
Her entry in the Congress will help the party stake claim to YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s legacy — a two term chief minister who died in a tragic helicopter accident in 2008. After Reddy’s death, the Congress eventually ceded to K Chandrashekar Rao’s demand for a separate Telangana but Reddy’s son Jagan Mohan quit the party and formed his own outfit to govern Andhra Pradesh.
Sharmila arrived in the national capital on Wednesday evening. She will be inducted as a member by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Her entry in the Congress will take place before a crucial meeting of the general secretaries and in charges for the poll preparations and the Bharat Nyay Yatra.
The Congress had earlier announced that “a very eminent personality will join the party at 10.30 am on Thursday at the AICC headquarters”.