Speculations are rife about YSRTP chief YS Sharmila possibly merging her party with the Congress. In light of this, her meeting with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on Thursday has attained prominence.
Speaking to the media, Sharmila said that she met the Congress high command to discuss the political situation in Telangana and that she has been working on various issues affecting the people of Telangana since she established the YSRTP.
She also said that the countdown for the defeat of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and BRS government has begun. However, she stopped short of revealing any plans to merge her party with the Congress.
Congress leaders have been saying that they would welcome her if she decides to do so.
Speculation about Sharmila growing closer to the Congress has been doing the rounds for quite some time after she met Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar in Bengaluru in May to congratulate him on the victory of the party in the neighbouring state.
YSR Telangana Congress Party’s spokesperson Konda Raghava Reddy told PTI that none of the leaders or cadre of YSRTP are aware of her Delhi trip and meeting with the Gandhi family.
Sharmila had earlier categorically said that she would contest from the Palair Assembly constituency in poll-bound Telangana.
She vigorously campaigned for her sibling Jagan Mohan Reddy during the 2019 Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh and later floated her own party YSRTP in Telangana.