New kid on the Telangana block
There will soon be another party in the crowded Telangana political space raring to take on TRS supremo and CM K Chandrashekar Rao. The only difference is that the new party is headed by Y S Sharmila, daughter of the former CM of undivided Andhra, the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who was not only known for his welfare programmes but also for his anti-Telangana stand. Sharmila is attempting to resurrect the YSR of welfare schemes while pussyfooting around the integrationist YSR to gain a purchase in Telangana soil.
Sharmila knows that being an outsider, she has to tread carefully in Telangana, considered inhospitable for Andhra leaders. Ahead of launching her political party, she addressed a huge public meeting in Khammam last Friday, which to some extent cleared doubts over her acceptability. Having crossed the first hurdle, she now has to prove her commitment to Telangana, since she never spoke in favour of it during the turbulent days of the movement for a separate state or tried to identify herself with it after bifurcation.
Now she claims she is a Telangana woman since she was brought up and did her studies here, and that her two children were born in the state. It is not that she is not known in Telangana as she went on a padayatra here in support of her brother in the wake of the demise of YSR in 2009. At the Khammam public meeting, her mother vouched for her fighting spirit, likening her to Andhra CM Jagan Mohan Reddy and YSR, with an intention to define her as one no less in stature to any male leader. But her passion for Telangana would for instance be put to test when she would be called to fight with her brother over sharing of Krishna waters between the two states.
Sharmila took pains to drive home the point that she is launching her party to question the Telangana CM and not to benefit anyone, amidst murmurs that she intends to help him by dividing the anti-KCR vote. The Congress sees a conspiracy to wean away the Reddys, who are the staple of the party, and SCs and STs, since Sharmila is a chip off the same old Congress block. If she does well, the GOP in the state may even cease to exist. For now, Sharmila has taken a baby step and she has miles to go.