It has been more than two weeks since YSR Telangana Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s sister Y S Sharmila announced her decision to go it alone in the upcoming assembly elections in Telangana.
After that, there has been no word from her. Even as the Congress, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and the Bharatiya Janata Party have plunged into action and started campaigning in full swing, there has been no development on her party front.
On Thursday night, there was a surprising news about her party – that the Election Commission of India allotted the poll symbol to the YSRTP. Acknowledging it as a registered political party, the EC allotted Sharmila’s party “binoculars” as the common election symbol to contest all the seats in the state.
Interestingly, there was no statement from her party about the allotment of the election symbol and her plans to contest the elections. On October 12, she announced that she would field candidates in all 119 assembly constituencies.
She invited applications from interested leaders to contest the elections, but there was absolutely no response from anyone till date.
“While the poll symbol is ready, there are no takers. She has to look through her binoculars to find the right candidates to contest the elections now,” a political observer said.
The YSRTP president embarked on a 3,800-km state-wide tour during which she met the locals and tried to understand their problems.
She was hoping to get some mileage out of this marathon exercise, but unfortunately she made a futile attempt to merge her party with the Congress to get some seats.
