HYDERABAD: Telangana Congress is a divided house over YS Sharmila-led YSRTP’s merger with the grand old party.
A section of senior leaders is of the view that there should be no objection if Sharmila’s drafting into Congress will boost the electoral prospects of the party. However, Telangana Congress president A Revanth Reddy’s camp is in no mood for any sort of electoral understanding between YSRTP and Congress.
Even AICC in-charge of Telangana Manikrao Thakre said Sharmila’s image would be more helpful for Congress in Andhra Pradesh and not in Telangana. Revanth’s camp got a major boost when former Union minister Renuka Choudhary said her entry into the party will have a negative impact on the electoral prospects of the party.
The latest to wade into the debate over the merger of YSRTP with Congress was senior leader, former MP V Hanumanth Rao, who on Saturday said her image could help the party more in Andhra Pradesh.
On her part, the YSRTP chief is in no mood to go into AP politics and has tweeted that she will work for the cause of people of Telangana till her last breath. Though there are apprehensions among a section of party leaders that Sharmila could emerge as another power-centre within the grand old party giving rise to further infighting, sources said the Congress high command is likely to finalise the issue after former Khammam MP Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy joins the party.
However, a senior leader said Sharmila brings with her the legacy of her late father, former CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy. “He (YSR) was a Congressman all his life and brought Congress to victory when defeating Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP seemed difficult in the undivided state in 2004,” he said.
Some leaders said there are many constituencies in Telangana having people whose roots belong to Andhra and Rayalaseema regions. Sharmila also has a following among Christians, mainly Dalit Christians in Telangana, they reasoned.
“The proposal to merge YSRTP with Congress should not be rejected just because of the possibility of her being branded as a Seemandhra leader by the opposition parties in the run-up to the assembly elections. The high command should get surveys conducted about the vote-bank YSRTP will bring with it, and then take a final call. The pros and cons should be weighed thoroughly before taking any final call,” said another leader.
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