'Will bring Rajanna Rajyam to Telangana': Jagan Mohan Reddy's sister YS Sharmila hints at entering politics in Telangana

YS Sharmila, sister of Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday met with the supporters of her late father and former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy in Hyderabad, fuelling speculation about her entry into active politics in Telangana. As per media reports, Sharmila said she will bring back “Rajanna Rajyam (Rajasekhar Reddy kind of regime)” to the state of Telangana, which is currently under the rule of Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s K Chandrashekar Rao. Sharmila’s father, late YS Rajasekhara Reddy, widely known as YSR, was the chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh from 2004 to 2009. The Congress leader died in a chopper crash in September 2009. The former state of Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated into Telangana and the residuary Andhra Pradesh state in 2014. According to news agency PTI, Sharmila met Rajasekhara Reddy’s sympathisers from the Nalgonda district of Telangana at the family’s residence at Lotus Pond in Hyderabad. Though the outcome of the discussions was not officially announced, several participants told PTI that Sharmila sought to know about the present political situation in the district. Several banners with portraits of Sharmila and Rajasekhar Reddy were erected at the residence. Jagan’s image was conspicuously missing in the banners and flex boards, the news agency added. According to a  Hindustan Times report, a poster with the slogan “YSR Samkshemam Sharmilamma Thone Sadhyam” (YSR’s welfare schemes are possible only with Sharmila) was circulating on social media since Monday morning. The poster invited YSR’s followers to come to Lotus Pond on Tuesday and carried a small map of Telangana at the right-hand corner with images of YSR, Jagan, Sharmila and her mother Vijayalakshmi. “I want to understand the ground realities and to take their suggestions and the information they have. I called people from the Nalgonda district. This is just a connection (with them). The meeting will be held with people from every district,” PTI quoted her as saying before the meeting. Sharmila, however, did not directly respond when asked if she would launch a political party. “There is no Rajanna Rajyam now. Why should it not come? We will bring Rajanna Rajyam to Telangana,” NDTV quoted her as saying. According to PTI, in response to a query, Sharmila said, “Jagan Mohan Reddy is doing his job in Andhra Pradesh and I will do mine in Telangana.” Sharmila and her mother Vijayamma had vigorously campaigned for the YSR Congress party during the elections in 2019. However, after Jagan’s YSRC clinched a landslide victory and he took over the reins, Sharmila was out of the public eye. A senior legislator of the YSR Congress party from Andhra Pradesh on condition of anonymity told PTI that Sharmila harbours political ambitions, but, it is not clear now as to where these developments (meetings and discussions) would finally lead to. However, according to The Hindu, former YSRCP Telangana state unit chief Konda Raghava Reddy told the media that Sharmila would shortly launch a new political party in Telangana. “We will contest the next elections on our own and there is no need to forge an alliance with other parties,”  the report quoted Konda Raghava Reddy as saying. He added that the consultations would continue with well-wishers from other districts. A YSR Congress worker from Utnoor in Adilabad said he strongly wants Sharmila to float a party in order to bring “Rajanna Rajyam” (Rajasekhar Reddy’s regime) in Telangana also. Though YSRC Party has its presence in Telangana, it did not contest in the last general elections. Sharmila undertook a “Padayatra” when Jagan was imprisoned in connection with a case in 2012. Advisor to Andhra Pradesh Government Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, on behalf of the YSRCP, said the party has nothing to do with any move of Sharmila to form a new party. “Our leader (Jaganmohan Reddy) has clarified that his party cannot function in two states. We feel that Sharmila has still not made up her mind about launching a new party. If someone else has made a comment that she will float a party, we have to see their stature,” the report by The Hindu quoted him as saying. According to the report, Telangana Rashtra Samithi minister Gangula Kamalakar asserted that no one can compete with the TRS in the state and wondered about the need for “outsiders” to launch a party in Telangana. He questioned Sharmila’s ability to impact Telangana politics when even Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has no political locus standi in Telangana. According to the Hindustan Times report, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, at the state executive committee of his party, without naming Sharmila, said that there were talks of a new regional party, but added that such a party would not survive for long. “The TRS is the only party after the TDP which has managed to sustain and survive,” the report quoted him as saying. Meanwhile, the Telangana unit of the BJP has reportedly said that Sharmila’s party is being floated to help Chandrashekhar Rao. According to a report by the Times of India, BJP leader NVSS Prabhakar alleged that senior Congress leader KVP Ramchandra Rao come to the aid of the chief minister and is behind Sharmila to launch the party. With inputs from PTI