YSRTP not to contest elections, extends support to Congress: YS Sharmila

Sharmila had floated the YSRTP in 2021 after a fallout with her brother in Andhra Pradesh during and after the 2019 state Assembly and parliamentary elections.

Hyderabad: YSRTP president YS Sharmila on Friday announced that her party has quit from contesting Assembly Elections in the state and expressed unconditional support to Congress.

Earlier on October 12, YSRTP had announced that it would contest the Assembly elections. It was then speculated that her mother Vijayamma would also contest from the Secunderabad seat. Sharmila had taken the decision after trying to negotiate a merger with the Congress. The party had also announced earlier that its president YS Sharmila would contest from Palair in Khammam.

---

This announcement comes close on the heels after Telangana Telugu Desam Party (TDP) deciding to withdraw from contesting the elections in the State. In protest, Telangana TDP president Kasani Gnaneshwar quit the party and joined the ruling BRS.

Interestingly a fortnight back, the YSRTP founder had declared that her party would contest in all the 119 constituencies in the State. She himself declared her candidature from Palair constituency and said if need be her mother YS Vijayamma and her husband Anil Kumar would also contest the elections.

Explaining the reasons for deciding not to contest the elections, she said there was a lot of anti incumbency against the BRS and if the anti incumbency votes got split, then there was every possibility of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao getting re-elected after the elections.

“History would never forgive me for facilitating the split in the anti-incumbency” Sharmila said at a press conference here on Friday.

To avoid another winning chance to the ruling BRS, many Congress leaders, intellectuals and media heads had asked us on the need to contest the elections, when there was lot of anti-incumbency against the ruling BRS, she admitted, saying “We never wanted to defeat the Congress nor have any intentions to ensure their loss”.

Having said this decision was taken in the better interests of Telangana people than the Congress party prospects. YSRTP was founded to ensure welfare of Telangana people, she said.

Sharmila had floated the YSRTP in 2021 after a fallout with her brother in Andhra Pradesh during and after the 2019 state Assembly and parliamentary elections.