Amaravati, Jan 3 (IANS): A day before joining the Congress, YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) leader Y.S. Sharmila met her brother and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy here on Wednesday to invite him for her son’s engagement and wedding.
Accompanied by her husband Anil Kumar, son Raja Reddy and other family members, Sharmila drove to the Chief Minister’s official residence at Tadepalli and presented him the first invitation card for Raja Reddy’s engagement and wedding.
She spent about half-an-hour with her brother and sister-in-law Bharati.
On January 1, Sharmila had announced that Raja Reddy’s engagement with Atluri Priya is set for January 18, while the wedding is scheduled for February 17.
On January 2, she had kept an invitation card at the grave of her father and late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy at Idupulapaya in YSR Kadapa district.
Sharmila, along with her family members, reached the Gannavaram Airport at Vijayawada by a special aircraft from Kadapa and then drove to her brother’s residence.
Interestingly, Alla Rama Krishna Reddy, who recently resigned from the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) headed by Jagan Reddy, and also quit as an MLA, accompanied Sharmila to the Chief Minister's residence.
Rama Krishna Reddy has announced that he will join the Congress once Sharmila returns from Delhi.
Sharmila’s meeting with Jagan Reddy came a day before her visit to Delhi where she will join the Congress in the presence of the party's top leadership.
This was Sharmila’s first meeting with Jagan Reddy after differences cropped up between the siblings. Sharmila, who had actively campaigned for YSRCP in the 2019 elections, felt sidelined by Jagan Reddy after the party came to power following a landslide victory.
In 2021, she entered politics in Telangana and floated the YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP). However, the party did not contest the recent Assembly elections and declared its support for the Congress.
She announced at Idupulapaya on Tuesday that she has decided to work for the Congress.
She claimed that valuing YSRTP’s sacrifice in Telangana, the Congress has invited her to join the party.
“I have no objection in working with the Congress. As Congress is the largest secular party in the country, and it is working to provide security to everyone, I have decided to strengthen the party,” she said.
The YSRTP will merge with the Congress with Sharmila formally joining the party. It is not clear if she will accept a role in Andhra Pradesh politics, which will put her in direct confrontation with her brother.
“You will get answers to all your queries in a day or two,” she had said while declining to answer any queries.