Months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, Congress received a fresh boost in Andhra Pradesh as YS Sharmila, sister of incumbent Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, joined the grand old party on Thursday. YS Sharmila joined the party in New Delhi in the presence of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi. While talking about her late father and former Andhra Pradesh CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy, YS Sharmila said that it was his dream to see Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister of India.
YS Sharmila also announced the merger of her YSR Telangana Congress with Congress and said she is ready for any responsibility in the party. The sources in Congress revealed that YS Sharmila’s induction in the party was long due and earlier she was scheduled to join the party in September, “but negotiations could not be finished in time.”
‘Congress largest secular party of India’
“I am very happy to be merging the YSR Telangana party with the Congress. It gives me immense joy that the YSR Telangana party is going to be a part of the Indian National Congress from today onwards,” YS Sharmila said.
YS Sharmila said her father YS Rajasekhara Reddy not only served the Congress all his life, but he also gave his life for the party. “Today, it would give him great joy that his daughter is following in his footsteps and is going to be a part of the Congress itself,” she said.
“The Congress is still the largest secular party of our country. The Congress has always upheld the true culture of India. The Congress has built our nation’s foundations. The Congress has unwaveringly served all communities, uniting all sections of the people of India,” Sharmila said in the presence of top party leadership.
Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister
YS Sharmila said that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has earned the confidence of people through his Bharat Jodo Yatra and it was her father’s dream to see Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister of the country. “It was my father’s dream to see Rahul Gandhi as prime minister of our country and I am very glad that I am going to be a part in making that happen. Whatever responsibility the Congress will lay on me, I promise to fulfill that responsibility with all loyalty, integrity, and diligence,” Sharmila said.
She founded the YSR Telangana party in July 2021, but the party couldn’t do much at the level of organization. YS Sharmila’s party is an unrecognized regional political entity rooted in Andhra Pradesh and has no elected representative in the Parliament or State Assembly of the state.
YS Sharmila’s entry in the Congress will help the party to capitalize on the rich legacy of former CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy, who died in a helicopter crash in 2008. His son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy decided to part ways from Congress on the issue of the creation of Telangana.
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Published: 04 Jan 2024, 02:43 PM IST
