YSRTP President YS Sharmila met Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shiva Kumar in Bengaluru on Monday triggering speculations that she is going to merge her party with the Congress or is planning an alliance with it.
This was Sharmila’s second meeting in the last 15 days as she had first met DK on May 15 after the Karnataka Assembly election results came out.
Meanwhile, YSRTP sources reiterated that there is no question of merging the YSRTP with the Congress. But our sources made it clear that she met DK Shiva Kumar for discussing the possibility of an alliance with the Congress.
It is learnt that Sharmila asked about the terms of the Congress in case there is an alliance between the two. Sharmila will take a final decision on entering into an alliance with the Congress if she is satisfied by its conditions.
Sharmila wants to enter into an alliance with the Congress to ensure that anti-incumbency votes do not get split so that the Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS can be defeated.
It is learnt that instead of meeting the Congress high command, Sharmila held talks through DK Shiva Kumar, who is close to the YSR family as the Congress high command has been forcing Sharmila to merge her party with the Congress.
Sharmila is confident that an alliance can be forged between the Congress and the YSRTP as her party is strong in around 40 constituencies. The Congress will be affected if it fails to enter into an alliance with the YSRTP as the YSRTP will be pocketing only Congress votes.
Meanwhile, TPCC Working President Mahesh Kumar Goud said that Sharmila’s meeting with DK Shiva Kumar was encouraging.
