YSR Telangana Party founder-president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s sister Y S Sharmila on Thursday merged her party with the Congress while adding that she was ready to “take up any role” the party high command would entrust her with.
The daughter of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and founder of YSR Telangana Party said it was she was extremely happy to be part of the party which her father was associated with till his last breath.
Sharmila, who landed in New Delhi on Wednesday night, joined the Congress in the presence of All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and AICC in-charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs Manickam Tagore, at the AICC headquarters.
Speaking to reporters later, Sharmila declared that she had merged her YSR Telangana Party with the Congress .
“I am very happy to be merging the YSR Telangana party with the Congress. It gives me immense joy that the YSR Telangana party is going to be a part of the Indian National Congress from today onwards,” she said.
“I am ready to play any role that the party gives me. I will work for the party in whatever capacity I can with utmost dedication and commitment,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}“I am ready to play any role that the party gives me. I will work for the party in whatever capacity I can with utmost dedication and commitment,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}Describing her father, Sharmila recalled that YSR was a great Congress leader, who strived day and night for the party all through his life.“Today, it would give him great joy that his daughter is following in his footsteps and is going to be a part of the Congress itself,” she said.
Stating that Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra has created a sense of security and confidence among the people, Sharmila said she, too, was impressed by the people’s response to the yatra. “It was my father’s dream to see Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister of the country and I shall strive for the same,” she added.“The Congress is the only the biggest secular party in the country, which takes all sections of the society along with it. The Congress has built our nation’s foundations,” she asserted.
Later, Sharmila went to the residence of Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and had a brief meeting with her. “She congratulated me for joining the Congress and blessed me, saying I would have a great future in the party,” she said.
She said the party high command would take a decision in a day or two on what responsibility she would be entrusted with. “I am ready to accept whatever is offered to me,” she said.
Senior YSR Congress party leader and Sharmila’s uncle Y V Subba Reddy said she might have taken the decision to join the Congress as she had no other alternative.
“She had earlier floated the YSRTP as she had no place in the YSRCP. After realising that she has no role in Telangana, she decided to join the Congress,” Reddy said, adding that it would have no impact, whatsoever, on the YSRCP or Jagan Mohan Reddy.