YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) president Y S Sharmila on Thursday met top Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, taking a step further in the direction of her party’s merger with the Congress, people familiar with the matter said.
Accompanied by her evangelist husband Anil Kumar, Sharmila held discussions with the Gandhis at their residence over breakfast for about one and a half hours.
Speaking to reporters later, Sharmila said the constructive discussions were held with Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. As the daughter of late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, former chief minister of unified Andhra Pradesh, she would keep working in the direction of welfare for the people of Telangana, the YSRTP chief said. “I want to tell you one thing, the countdown for Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s rule has begun,” she said, without elaborating more on her future plans.
A YSRTP leader privy to the development said Sharmila had discussed with the formalities of the merger of her party with the Congress. She told Sonia that her father’s desire was to see Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister and assured that she would work in that direction. “She already had a meeting with AICC general secretary K C Venugopal on August 11. Today’s meeting with Sonia and Rahul was a mere formality,” the party leader said, adding that in all probability, Sharmila would announce the merger of her party with the Congress after her return to Hyderabad in a day or two.
Apparently, the Congress high command asked Sharmila to play a bigger role in the party in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and assured to take care of her political interests. “It is not immediately known what concrete assurance the high command has given her. But she will extensively campaign for the party in Telangana in the upcoming elections,” the leader quoted above said.
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