Sharmila meets Rahul, Sonia in Delhi; fuels rumours of YSRTP merger with Congress

New Delhi: Amid speculation that she would merge her YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) with the Congress, YS Sharmila, the sister of Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, on Thursday, met top AICC leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the national capital.

Speculation about Sharmila growing closer to the Congress has been doing rounds for quite some time after she met Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar in Bengaluru in May to congratulate him on the victory of the party in the neighbouring Karnataka.

“Met Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Constructive discussions took place. The daughter of YS Rajasekhar Reddy would relentlessly work towards benefiting Telangana people. I can say one thing, the countdown for KCR began,” she told reporters after the meeting in New Delhi, predicting Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s defeat in the upcoming Assembly polls

When contacted, YSR Telangana Congress Party’s spokesperson Konda Raghava Reddy said none of the leaders or cadre of YSRTP are aware of Sharmila's Delhi trip and her meeting with the Gandhi family.

Sharmila had earlier categorically said that she would contest from the Palair Assembly constituency in poll-bound Telangana. She had vigorously campaigned for her sibling Jagan Mohan Reddy during the 2019 Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh and later floated her own party YSRTP in Telangana.