Putting an end to speculations of merging her party with Congress, YSR Telangana Party chief Y.S. Sharmila Reddy announced that her party will contest on its own in all the 119 seats.
“YSRTP will contest all 119 seats alone. We will have tough competition,” Sharmila said on Thursday, adding that she would contest the polls from Paleru constituency.
The YSRTP chief said she had waited for four months for a response from the Congress party on her proposal to merge her party or work with the grand old party.
“As there was no response from Congress, the YSRTP decided to field candidates in all the constituencies,” she noted.
Sharmila said her husband Anil Kumar and mother Vijayamma have also been asked to contest the assembly elections.
“We wanted to go along with Congress party to ensure that the anti-incumbency vote does not split. If the anti-incumbency vote splits it will ultimately benefit Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. But it (association with Congress) did not happen. Now, blame is not on us (If the anti-incumbency vote splits),” she said at a party meeting.
Sharmila had met Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and had also set a deadline of October 1 for the national party to spell out its stand on her demands.
Telangana is going to polls on November 30 and the counting will take place on December 3.
Sharmila, daughter of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, founded the YSRTP in 2021. The party has currently no representation in either Vidhan Sabha or Lok Sabha.
