Vijayawada: Congress pins hopes for revival on Sharmila in AP

Vijayawada : After humiliating defeats in two successive elections in Andhra Pradesh, the Congress hopes to salvage some pride, with YS Sharmila Reddy leading the charge in the electoral battle next month.

The grand old party, which drew a blank in 2014 and 2019 Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in its former stronghold, is desperate to have representation in the Legislature after a decade.

While the appointment of Sharmila as the president of the state Congress in January brought some much-needed enthusiasm in the Congress camp, she is facing an uphill task in her task of reviving its fortunes.

Political analysts say whatever attention Sharmila Reddy enjoys in the state is because she is the sister of incumbent Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and daughter of late YS Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), one of the most popular chief ministers of pre-bifurcation Andhra Pradesh.

That YSR’s legacy lives on in the state is evident from the fact that the Congress invoked it by choosing YS Sharmila Reddy to lead the efforts for the party's revival.

Sharmila is claiming herself to be the real inheritor of YSR’s political legacy as she belongs to the party he was associated with throughout his life.

Some analysts also believe that Sharmila, being a woman, may also get public sympathy over getting a raw deal from her brother after coming to power. She had played a key role in running and strengthening the YSRCP when Jagan Mohan Reddy was in jail for more than 16 months in 2012-13 after floating the party and falling-out with the Congress leadership in the aftermath of YSR’s death in a helicopter crash in 2009.

She was instrumental in the YSRCP’s victory in byelections in 2012 and carried forward the YSR legacy by undertaking padyatras to mobilise support for her jailed brother, who was projected as a victim of a political conspiracy. She and her mother Vijayamma were key players in the YSRCP campaign in 2014 and 2019.

Now, during the current election campaign, Sharmila Reddy is targeting her brother at almost every meeting for being unfair to her after coming to power in 2019. “Jagan Anna used to say that Sharmila is not my sister but my daughter. But after coming to power in 2019 he was a changed man,” she said.

CM Jagan Mohan Reddy had not fielded Sharmila Reddy either in Lok Sabha or Assembly polls in both 2014 and 2019 but she was a key part of the party’s campaign. After YSRCP stormed to power with a landslide majority, Sharmila Reddy had expected some key position in the government or the party. Cracks developed in the family after Jagan sidelined her.

After lying low for more than one-and-a-half years, she took a plunge into politics in neighbouring Telangana by floating the YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) in 2021. The efforts did not yield the desired results and just before the 2023 Assembly polls she started holding talks with the Congress to merge her party.

Though there was no progress, Sharmila Reddy took a dramatic decision not to contest the polls saying she wanted to avoid a split of anti-BRS votes. After the Congress wrested power, Sharmila claimed that her decision not to contest played a key role in the party’s victory.

In the new political realities in Telangana and on the advice of the Congress leadership, she decided to merge YSRTP with the Congress and agreed to return to Andhra Pradesh in a new role. Insiders say Sharmila made up her mind after a personal meeting with senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi cleared her misunderstandings that the Gandhi family did not treat YSR’s family well after his death. The Congress leader told her that they have huge respect for her late father.

The YSR family also split vertically with Sharmila Reddy entering the fray from Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency, considered a stronghold of the family. She is taking on sitting MP and her cousin, YS Avinash Reddy, who will be seeking re-election for a third term on the YSRCP’s ticket.

The fight is not just about political differences. Sharmila has directly attacked her brother for once again fielding the ‘killer’ of their uncle YS Vivekananda Reddy. She is justifying her electoral battle from Kadapa saying it was the last wish of her uncle.Sharmila is also targeting YS Jagan Reddy for what he called mortgaging the state’s interests in Delhi.

She is claiming that the Congress party is the only one committed to accord special category status. “All three parties today stand in the dock for playing with the sentiments of the people and backstabbing them without remorse,” she said recently while taking a pledge to fight for special category status.

According to political analyst Palwai Raghava Reddy, after the appointment of Sharmila as state Congress chief, some activity was seen in the Congress camp after a very long time.

“There is an excitement among Congress cadres. This is only the beginning as reviving the party after the massive drubbing in two successive elections is a huge task,” he said.

The analyst, however, believes that if the Congress can increase its vote share to 5 to 10 per cent and at least have some representation in the Assembly, this will provide a platform to rebuild the party.