Revealing that she has been getting many missed calls from Congress leaders, YSRTP President YS Sharmila said that she did not answer a single missed call from them.
“I will inform the media first if I answer calls from the Congress. This is an election year and all parties would try to strengthen themselves,” Sharmila said.
The Congress won 21 seats in 2014 and 19 seats in 2018. Now the Congress has only five MLAs in Telangana, she said.
She said that the Telangana Congress lacks leadership and so it failed to protect its MLAs.
“The Congress was a regional party when YSR was there and now it is zero. People would have had confidence in the Congress if it had protected its cadres and leaders. The people have no confidence in the Congress now,” Sharmila said.
The situation in the TS Congress is such that they are bringing leaders from other political parties, she said.
Sharmila said that she would not have launched a political party if she had wanted to merge YSRTP in the Congress.
“Why did I run the party for the last two years facing several hardships? Why did I walk 3,800 km if I wanted to merge my party with another party? I got several offers from other political parties. I floated a political party in the name of YSR not for merging it with another political party. YSRTP became a force in Telangana by taking up public movements. No one is there in Telangana who does not know Sharmila,” she said.
She said that a public opinion survey agency based in Delhi said that the YSRTP will have an impact on 44 Assembly seats in Telangana. “Why should I merge my party for the sake of five or 10 seats,” she said.
Sharmila said the Congress has leadership but it has no strength to protect it. She said that there were many in the Karnataka Congress who worked hard.
“DK Shiva Kumar worked hard and Congress came to power in Karnataka. However, in Telangana, they are bringing leaders from other political parties saying that they are leaders. If 19 people win and only 5 remain is that something credible? I have known DK Shivakumar for several years. Shivakumar took YSR as his model. He strived hard like YSR and brought the Congress to power in Karnataka. Congress would not have come to power in Karnataka if Shivakumar was not there and so I congratulated him,” she said.
Sharmila said the Karnataka election results would have an impact on Telangana and it is certain that the people of Telangana would remove KCR in the next elections.
