Even as the people of Telangana prepare to vote in state elections by the end of this year (barely three months away), political alliances are still being forged. In Indian politics, it is not uncommon for both individual political aspirants as well as political parties to continue assessing the prospects of various parties and leaders to either strengthen old alliances or to forge new ones, right up to the announcement of election dates by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
In a series of events largely expected by political analysts, the leader of the fairly new Telangana-based YSRTP party cozied up to the Congress party’s Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on her recent visit. The YSRTP party was founded in Telangana in 2021 by Y S Sharmila, daughter of the late Congress leader and ex-chief minister of the undivided Andhra Pradesh, Y S Rajasekhar Reddy. Y S Sharmila is the estranged sister of the current Chief Minister of Andhra, Y S Jagan Reddy. Events unfolding over the last three years have indicated a lack of cordial relations between the brother and sister. It appears that the children of the ex-Andhra chief minister, son Y S Jagan Reddy and daughter Y S Sharmila are not on good terms personally and politically. Sharmila chose to stay away from her brother’s turf in neighboring Andhra Pradesh, by founding and headquartering her relatively new political outfit, the YSRTP party in Telangana’s Hyderabad city. She has made it clear that she and her brother are not political partners and do not collaborate. Her brother, Jagan Reddy is the founder and leader of the Andhra-based YSRCP party, formed in 2011.
It is a curious case of a sparring brother-sister duo after the demise of their father, choosing to start their own political parties in two different Telugu states, each eyeing the top post of the respective state, while in alliance with arch-political foes at the Centre – Andhra’s Y S Jagan and his YSRCP party, supporters of the BJP thus far, aiming to win A.P’s state elections and retaining the chief minister’s seat for a 2nd time and Telangana’s Y S Sharmila warming up to the Congress, while aiming to win Telangana’s state elections or playing ‘kingmaker’ in the aftermath of its election results.
Jagan’s YSRCP is not in a direct electoral alliance with the BJP but lends its support to the BJP in all central government parliamentary affairs. Now, Sharmila’s YSRTP appears to have struck a deal with the Congress on her recent visit to New Delhi. The Congress’s Sonia Gandhi appears to have given a warm welcome to Sharmila on her recent visit to the former’s residence in New Delhi. Will she offer post-electoral support to the Congress, a pre-electoral alliance, or will she merge her smaller, fledgling party with the larger Congress party, in return for a personal or political favor?
It may well be a first in Indian politics if the brother and sister, currently not on good terms, end up being power centers in the respective Telugu states of Andhra and Telangana! Their late father, ex-chief minister of the undivided Andhra Pradesh, was a politician (popular for his focus on unfeasible but populist welfare schemes and reservation-based (both religion and caste-based) benefits. The Y S family are converted Christians that tapped into the Christian network, cleverly utilizing a strategy which guaranteed them the minority Christian and Muslim vote as well as the scheduled caste vote, leaving behind a messy, divided Hindu vote. Sibling rivalry aside, the brother, Jagan won the Andhra 2019 election with the same formula and sister, Sharmila is banking on the same formula to bring in the votes in neighboring Telangana.
It is widely acknowledged that the brother & sister had a major fallout after Jagan’s YSRCP party won the 2019 A.P state election. He was serving a jail sentence for several ongoing high-profile cases while his family was campaigning on his behalf ahead of the 2019 state election that his party eventually won. Jagan did not reciprocate with important party positions or ministerial berths for the campaigning help he had received from his sister, Sharmila, and her husband, a Christian pastor who had helped rake in the minority vote. Many questions arise:
- Will the siblings patch up in public, ahead of the Telangana and Andhra state elections (by the end of this year and by June next year, respectively)?
- Has their mother, Y S Rajashekar Reddy’s widow, brokered a peace deal between her children?
- Do they already have a covert understanding between them, casting their nets wide for significant clout with both the major national parties at the Centre, the BJP and the Congress?
- Is this a charade between the brother and sister to capture public attention, stay in the news for its unique story, gain some political mileage out of the publicity?
- Is it a ploy to keep a certain percentage of the massive amounts of ill-gotten wealth amassed through illegal means during the tenure of the father and the son?
The Congress is desperate to get its act together in Telangana where the current BRS dispensation headed by party founder and leader, K Chandrasekhar Rao is still going strong after two terms, closely followed by the impressively quick and substantial growth of the BJP in the state. The Congress party does not stand a chance in Andhra where the people squarely blame the party’s divisive politics resulting in the bifurcation of the larger Telugu state into Telangana and Andhra. Hence, maintaining some relevance in neighboring Telangana is crucial for the Congress’s morale and its existential crisis in the Telugu states.
(Shivani is a freelance writer based in Vijayawada)
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