YS Sharmila, Congress' Weapon For Andhra Pradesh Polls, Gets Big Post

YS Sharmila - the daughter of former (undivided) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, and the sister of current Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy - has been appointed as President of the Congress' state unit, a statement signed by General Secretary KC Venugopal said.

"Honourable Congress President has appointed YS Sharmila Reddy as the President of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee with immediate effect..." the brief note signed by Mr Venugopal said.

The previous state Congress chief, Rudra Raju, resigned Monday. He has been appointed Special Invitee to the Congress Working Committee, the party's highest decision-making body.

Ms Sharmila joined the Congress this month, merging her YSR Telangana Party with weeks for the 2024 Lok Sabha election and months before an Assembly election. She joined the Congress in the presence of party boss Mallikarjun Kharge and MP Rahul Gandhi on January 4. After supporting the Congress in last year's Telangana election, she hailed the party as India's largest and most secular.

READ | YS Sharmila, Jagan Reddy's Sister, Joins Congress Ahead Of 2024 Polls

She also said it was her father's dream to see Rahul Gandhi become the Prime Minister.

Ms Sharmila's new party will bank on her leadership to defeat her brother, Jagan Mohan Reddy, and the ruling YSRCP in the state poll. It also underlines the party's focus on the southern states, where it has seen much more success than anywhere else in the country, particularly the Hindi heartland.

Early last year the party scored a thumping win over the BJP in Karnataka and, in November, ousted the Bharat Rashtra Samithi of ex-Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. It will hope for a similarly strong showing in Andhra Pradesh, which votes this year, alongside the national election.

READ | YS Sharmila, Jagan Reddy's Sister, To Lead Congress' Andhra Revival Plan

However, Ms Sharmila has her task cut out; the Congress secured less than one per cent of all votes in the 2019 Assembly election. By contrast, the YSR Congress Party gathered over 50 per cent.

Ms Sharmila first made headlines in 2012; this was when Telangana had not yet been born.

Against the backdrop of a statehood movement gathering steam, her brother parted ways with the Congress and formed his party. He was joined by 18 MLAs and a Congress MP resigned.

Ahead of the subsequent bypolls, with Mr Reddy in jail on corruption charges, his mother YS Vijayamma and sister led the campaign. The YSCRP won big, consolidating its hold on the Assembly.

Nine years later Ms Sharmila walked away from her brother and formed her YSR Telangana Party.

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