YS Sharmila Reddy has till now backed her brother and stayed off the spotlight mostly.
Hyderabad:
YS Sharmila, daughter of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy, and sister of the incumbent, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, has indicated that she wants to bring “Rajanna Rajyam” (“Rajanna’s rule”) to Telangana. Holding talks with her late father’s supporters today at her Lotus Pond residence in Hyderabad, she has sparked talk of her possible political entry.
“I want to understand the ground realities and to take their suggestions and the information they have…I called people from Nalgonda district (in Telangana). This is just a connection (with them). The meeting will be held with people from every district,” she told media persons before the meeting.
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were a single unit, also called Andhra Pradesh, till its bifurcation in 2014. Her later father was a Congress Chief Minister of the state between from 2004 to 2009 when he died in a helicopter crash shortly after winning a second term as Chief Minister.
In 2010, his son, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, split from the Congress to form the YSR Congress which went on to win the 2019 assembly polls of the new state, Andhra Pradesh. Mr Reddy received considerable backing from his sister and mother, Vijayamma, during the campaign.
However, she has remained off the spotlight mostly since then.
Rumours have been floating over the past few days, PTI reports, of her political plans without her brother’s intervention. Interestingly, she seems to have set her eyes on Telangana, where the YSR Congress did not contest elections last year despite considerable presence.
Ms Sharmila herself did not directly respond when asked if she would launch a political party. “There is no Rajanna Rajyam now. Why should it not come? We will bring Rajanna Rajyam to Telangana,” she said.
The YSR Congress has apparently distanced itself from her plans saying they did not have Mr Reddy’s backing. “There is a difference of opinion between the siblings but not differences between them,” said Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, YSR Congress General Secretary and Advisor to the Andhra Pradesh government, referring to the development.
Today, as Ms Sharmila met the various leaders and backers of her father in Hyderabad, several banners and flex posters carrying her image, along with those of the late Chief Minister’s, were erected at her residence. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s were conspicuous by their absence.