There was a criticism in the political circles during the 2014 elections that YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy would not allow any of his family members to take the centre stage in the party and he should be the sole face of the party.
Though he made his mother Y S Vijayalakshmi as the party president and made her contest from Visakhapatnam, it was only to cash in on the sympathy arising out of his father Y S Rajasekhar Reddy’s death.
He thought being a widow of the great leader, Vijayamma would fetch a lot of political benefits to the party.
However, she lost the elections in Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha elections. Subsequently, Vijayamma virtually dropped out of politics and she is nowhere in the picture now, except attending one or two hunger strike camps of Jagan in the last couple of years.
When Jagan was in jail, his sister Sharmila played active role in the party.
She even conducted “padayatra” for over 2,500 km and was projected to be a strong leader of the party, but after Jagan came out of the jail, Sharmila, too, had to go to the back seat. She did not contest any elections in 2014.
But, now, Jagan has attained a lot of maturity politically, compared to 2014, a fact which even he is admitting openly.
According to the latest talk, Jagan is likely to rope in Sharmila again into the active politics of the party.
She would be made a star campaigner for the party, touring extensively to different parts of the state and supplementing Jagan’s efforts.
So, wherever Jagan might not be able to tour due to lack of time, Sharmila will fill the gap and tour those places.
He is hopeful that his sister would be able to attract womenfolk in large numbers as the daughter of YSR and brother of Jagan.
And Sharmila will not confine herself to just campaigning, but she would also contest the forthcoming elections. In all probability, she might contest the Lok Sabha elections, rather than assembly elections.
Jagan is presently looking for the best place to field Sharmila – whether it should be from Rayalaseema or coastal Andhra – may from Ongole or Rajampet.
Let us see how Sharmila is going to add colour to Jagan’s campaign.
