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Andhra CM Jagan Mohan’s sister YS Sharmila joins Congress
The Congress party had been negotiating with Sharmila for the past one year and she was earlier scheduled to join in a rally in Hyderabad in September
In a big boost for the Congress party’s prospects in Andhra Pradesh in the run up to this year’s Lok Sabha elections, YS Sharmila, daughter of late Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and sister of incumbent CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, joined the Congress in New Delhi on Thursday in the presence of Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahull Gandhi.
The Congress party had been negotiating with Sharmila for the past one year and she was earlier scheduled to join in a rally in Hyderabad in September. “But negotiations could not be finished in time,” a senior functionary said.
Sharmila is a founder of YSR Telangana party — an unrecognised regional party based in Andhra Pradesh. Her party, founded in July 2021, doesn’t have any elected representatives in the state or Parliament.
Her entry in the Congress will help the party stake claim to YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s legacy — a two term chief minister who died in a tragic helicopter accident in 2008. After Reddy’s death, the Congress eventually ceded to K Chandrashekar Rao’s demand for a separate Telangana but Reddy’s son Jagan Mohan quit the party and formed his own outfit to govern Andhra Pradesh.
Her entry into the Congress took place before a crucial meeting of the general secretaries and in-charges for the poll preparations and the Bharat Nyay Yatra.
