Congress Woos YS Sharmila for Alliance Ahead of Telangana Polls; No Question of Merger, Say Party Sources

Days after YSRTP chief YS Sharmila announced that she was “open to talk with anyone” who is willing to oust the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, News18.com has learnt that there have been conversations between Sharmila and the Congress, amid strong speculations of them forming an alliance in the state ahead of the assembly elections this year.

Top sources within the YSRTP have confirmed to News18.com that the Congress high command, specifically, Priyanka Gandhi’s team, has been in touch with Sharmila in a bid to persuade her to join forces with the Grand Old Party.

The proposal to merge YSRTP with the Congress was, however, vehemently shot down by Sharmila, according to sources within the party.

“There is no question of merging YSRTP with Congress as Sharmila has galvanising supporters on her own. Congress high command reached out to us with various proposals, which can’t be disclosed, but the matter is at a nascent stage right now,” a senior YSRTP leader told News18.com.

Sources have also confirmed that the talks between both the sides took place on the sidelines of the Karnataka elections, specifically in the last 10 days. There is a strong buzz that Sharmila has been approached by the Congress with an option of being given a Rajya Sabha seat, along with leading the party from the front in Andhra Pradesh where the Congress lacks leadership and cadres to take on Sharmila’s brother Jagan Mohan Reddy.

“Congress is keen on bringing together like-minded parties to avoid splitting of votes, which will end up benefitting KCR in Telangana. They also want to capitalise on the fact that Sharmila is the daughter of late YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the tallest leader Congress ever had, under whom the party swept undivided Andhra Pradesh. Congress fears Sharmila will cut into their vote bank, which is why they have been reaching out to us, but nothing has developed concretely,” the source quoted above said.

When questioned about whether Sharmila was seriously considering Congress’s proposals owing to the YSR family’s bitter history with the Grand Old Party, which forced Jagan to dump the Gandhis, sources quoted above reiterated that both Jagan and Sharmila have charted out separate political careers and were independent to make their own choices.

“Our primary focus is on Telangana, Sharmila’s only goal is to dethrone KCR. We will contest on all the 119 seats,” said a source.

News18.com also reached out to two senior Congress leaders within the state’s local leadership to confirm the developments, but both maintained that they were “unaware of such matters”.