Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is staring at a direct fight with his sister Y.S. Sharmila for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections as she has now been made chief of the rival Congress party in the state.
Sharmila had joined the Congress earlier this month and also merged her fledgling YSR Telangana Party with the national outfit.
Sharmila’s appointment, a party statement said, comes into effect immediately.
Jagan Reddy, the head of the YSR Congress Party, who split from the parent Congress in 2010, has already set an ambitious target of winning all 175 assembly seats in the state.
The Congress, on the other hand, is looking to revive its fortunes after being decimated in the last two elections, following the 2014 bifurcation of united Andhra into Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Sharmila, who parted ways with her brother in 2021, formed the YSRTP in July the same year to focus on Telangana. She also went on a 3,800-kilometre-long padayatra crisscrossing Telangana, which went to polls on 30 November, 2022.
However, weeks ahead of the November elections, Sharmila pulled back from the contest and instead announced her support for the Congress.
In a post on X Tuesday, Sharmila thanked Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi for trusting her with the post of president of the Andhra Pradesh Congress.
I thank hon’ble @kharge ji , #SoniaGandhi ji , @RahulGandhi ji , and @kcvenugopalmp ji for trusting me with post of the president of @INC_Andhra Pradesh.
I promise to work faithfully towards rebuilding the party to its past glory in the State of Andhra Pradesh with total… https://t.co/C6K8cQEz1F— YS Sharmila (@realyssharmila) January 16, 2024
Sharmila’s father, the late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, had earlier served as the Andhra Pradesh Congress chief. He was in his second term as chief minister of the undivided when he died in a helicopter crash in September 2009.
With Sharmila leading the AP unit, the Congress, observers said, was hopeful of reclaiming YSR’s legacy and the vote bank it lost to Jagan’s YSRCP.
“I promise to work faithfully towards rebuilding the party to its past glory in the state of Andhra Pradesh with total commitment and integrity,” Sharmila said in her post Tuesday.
The newly-appointed APCC chief added that she was “looking forward to working closely with each and every Congress foot soldier”, and that she also sought the support of Rudraraju Gidugu – the outgoing APCC chief – and every other leader of the party in the state. She said that she would like to build on their experience and expertise to reach their set goals.
Clearing the deck for Sharmila, Gidugu had resigned from his post on Monday.
Gidugu, the party press release said, was now appointed as a special invitee to the Congress Working Committee.
AP Congress leaders, who had welcomed Sharmila into the party earlier, have also extended their support.
“We are happy with Sharmila heading the AP unit and are confident of the party regaining its past glory here,” Shaikh Mastan Vali, working president of the APCC, told ThePrint.
“We’ve set a target and are confident of winning 15 Lok Sabha seats and 90 assembly constituencies in the coming polls,” he added.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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