At last, stage is said to be set for the merger of YSR Telangana Party led by Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s sister Y S Sharmila with the Congress party in Telangana.
Sharmila is expected to fly down to New Delhi in a day or two to meet the top Congress bosses and formalise the deal and make a formal announcement of the merger of her party with the Congress.
According to sources, Sharmila has agreed to the condition of the Congress high command that she should not seek any ticket for the coming assembly elections in Telangana but remain silent till the elections.
In return, the high command gave her a bumper offer. She would be given a prominent post in the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) – may be as one of the general secretaries.
Secondly, she would also be given the Congress ticket for the Khammam Lok Sabha seat in the upcoming Parliament elections, scheduled for 2024.
She had previously made her intent public about contesting for an MLA seat from Palair, which she had been nurturing for quite some time.
However, with BRS leader Thummala Nageswara Rao shifting loyalties to the grand old party, it seems like the Congress is more likely to offer him a ticket from Palair.
As an appeasement measure, the Congress has now offered a Lok Sabha seat from Khammam instead along with the post of general secretary.
Over the last couple of months, Sharmila had continued to work ardently to convince the Congress high command of the merger's significance, but she is facing resistance from Congress leaders in Telangana who fear that the merge could jeopardize the party's prospects in the upcoming elections.
Sharmila has reportedly requested 15 MLA seats for her party in the upcoming elections, despite having never contested an election herself. This proposal had been dismissed by the Congress, and Sharmila is now exploring other ideas.
While the Congress had also nurtured the idea of her playing a bigger role in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh where her brother YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is the Chief Minister, Sharmila had been reluctant to take up that role.
