20 seats: Sharmila rider for merger with Cong

Hyderabad: YSRTP president YS Sharmila, during her talks with AICC leaders in Delhi, is believed to have asked for 20 seats in the upcoming assembly elections in Telangana as a condition for the merger of her party with Congress. While the talk in the Congress circles is that the number of 20 seats could only be a bargaining strategy so that she can get at least 10-odd seats, Sharmila told AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal that a majority of 20 seats were contested by her brother, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP in Telangana in 2014 assembly elections. YSRCP had contested 92 assembly seats in Telangana then and won three constituencies of Aswaraopeta, Wyra and Pinapaka in the erstwhile Khammam district. YSRCP did not contest the 2018 assembly polls. In July 2021, Sharmila launched YSRTP in Telangana following differences with her brother. She told Venugopal that YSRTP’s vote-bank has increased after her 3,800-km padayatra in Telangana. After her return from the meeting with AICC leaders in Delhi, she held a meeting with party leaders in Hyderabad and told them that she had sought 20 seats. Some of the seats she wanted include Thungaturthy, Suryapet, Kodad, Huzurnagar, Palair, Aswaraopeta, Wyra, Pinapaka, Kalwakurthy, Wanaparthy, Achampet, Kollapur, Qutbullapur, LB Nagar, Jubilee Hlls, Rajendranagar and Parigi. Sources said the AICC leader said he would take up the issue with Rahul Gandhi and added that the grand old party may ask her to contest from Secunderabad constituency as they have commitment for Palair. A senior leader in the Congress told STOI that while coming to a conclusion on sharing of seats is not a problem but what has mainly stopped the merger of YSRTP with the Congress is the tough stand taken by Telangana Congress president A Revanth Reddy against Sharmila’s role in Telangana. “You cannot even call it a merger as YSRTP does not have a full-fledged party structure from village level. It should be a simple joining of Sharmila with her followers and she can work in Andhra Pradesh in the capacity of AICC secretary general secretary (whatever national level party post is given to her) so that she is neither labelled as a leader from Andhra or Telangana,” said a senior leader who is close to Revanth.