Congress picks Y S Sharmila to lead party in Andhra

Sources in the Congress party told DH that Rudra Raju was asked to resign, cutting short his tenure by little over 13 months after he took up the job of APCC president.

Ahead of the general elections, Congress on Tuesday appointed Andhra  Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s sister Y S Sharmila as the PCC chief of the state, hoping to revive the fortunes of the party in the key southern state. Polls to Andhra Pradesh assembly are held along with Lok Sabha.  

 Orders from AICC central leadership appointing Sharmila as Andhra Pradesh Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president have been issued on Tuesday as the current chief Gidugu Rudra Raju had resigned from his post on Monday. Raju has been appointed as special invitee to Congress Working Committee (CWC).  

 Sources in the Congress party told DH that Rudra Raju was asked to resign, cutting short his tenure by little over 13 months after he took up the job in the party in the state. Normally, a PCC chief tenure runs for two years.

Sharmila joined Congress by merging her YSRTP into the grand old party on January 4, in Delhi in the presence of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi.  

At the time of joining Congress, Sharmila said she would take up whatever responsibility she is given by the party leadership.

 In a meeting on January 2 before officially joining Congress, at her Lotus Pond residence in Hyderabad Sharmila told her supporters that AICC had offered her APCC chief and national general secretary posts. At that time Sharmila said that she was yet to take a call on the AICC offer.

 While initially she was reluctant to take up Congress’s responsibility in Andhra Pradesh where she would be directly pitted against her brother Jagan, Sharmila is said to have finally fallen in line.

 After the state bifurcation in 2014, Congress was totally decimated in Andhra Pradesh. Sharmila, who had fallen out with Jagan and formed her own party in Telangana, initially wanted to be part of the Congress in Telangana, but A Revanth Reddy's fierce objections prompted party central leadership not to go ahead.

However, Sharmila, in a goodwill measure, announced that she is not going ahead with fielding candidates in Telangana against Congress though such an announcement was made.

In a meeting on December 27 in Delhi, an overwhelming number of leaders from Andhra Pradesh told Congress leadership that induction of Sharmila will help the rejuvenation of the party ahead of Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

However, there appears to be some disquiet among a few sections of the party in Andhra Pradesh. Former Amalapuram MP, G V Harsha Kumar, was openly critical about Sharmila’s entry into Andhra Pradesh Congress, stating that she is trying to gain some political foothold in Andhra Pradesh after being rejected in Telangana.

“In the last ten years during the worst times there have been many leaders who have been shouldering party’s responsibilities. And now suddenly she had come from nowhere,” said another leader at Gandhi Bhawan in Vijayewada who wished not to be identified.