Former YSRCP MLA ready to sail with Sharmila

Amaravati: Alla Ramakrishna Reddy, who recently resigned as an MLA and also from ruling party YSRCP, on Saturday said that his political future will depend on the decision of Y. S. Sharmila, sister of Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Ramakrishna Reddy, who was elected from Mangalagiri constituency in 2019, said that his political journey will be with Sharmila.

His statement came amid speculations that Sharmila may merge her party YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) with the Congress and campaign for the party in the coming Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh.

Stating that he remained a follower of late chief minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Ramakrishna Reddy said he can’t leave the family.

He is the first MLA in Andhra Pradesh to come out in support of Sharmila amid buzz that she may merge YSRTP with the Congress and play an active role in the state politics.

Talks have been going on for the last few months for the merger of YSRTP with the Congress but she was reluctant to shift to Andhra Pradesh and wanted to remain in Telangana politics. She, however, stayed away from recently held Assembly elections in Telangana to avoid division of anti-incumbency votes.

With the Congress party coming to power in Telangana, the party leaders have started focussing on Andhra Pradesh, where the party was virtually wiped-out following bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014

Some senior Congress leaders have supported the proposal to invite Sharmila to join the Congress party as they believe that this will help revive the party in its former stronghold.

Ramakrishna Reddy had resigned from YSRCP after indications that the party may not field him in the coming Assembly elections.

He had defeated Telugu Desam Party (TDP) general secretary Nara Lokesh in the 2019 elections from Mangalagiri, which covers Amaravati capital region.

He had also filed innumerable cases against the then TDP government with regard to Amaravati lands issue.

He said in 2019, people defeated TDP as it had failed to perform and predicted that YSRCP may face a similar situation in the elections scheduled next year.