By deciding to go it alone in the Telangana assembly elections scheduled to be held on November 30, YSR Telangana Party president Y S Sharmila is believed to have committed a historic blunder, analysts say.
Sharmila took the decision to field candidates in all the 119 assembly constituencies in the upcoming assembly elections, after her four-month-long discussions to merge her party with the Congress failed to yield any positive result.
While the Congress high command wanted her to go to Andhra Pradesh and lead the party there, in lieu of which she was offered a Rajya Sabha ticket, Sharmila was adamant that she would confine herself to Telangana and contest the assembly elections along with her followers.
When the high command did not agree to her proposal, Sharmila finally announced that she would go it alone in the Telangana elections. But analysts wonder whether this decision of hers would really help her sustain in politics.
According to an analyst who commented in a national website, Sharmila has wasted four months of her precious time before the assembly elections in the name of holding negotiations with the Congress.
“Whether one agrees or not, she had created a support base for herself at least in some sections of the electorate by invoking her father Y S Rajasekhar Reddy’s name. She undertook an arduous padayatra for 3,800 km across Telangana and made a mark for herself,’ he pointed out.
Though it is a different matter that her efforts might not fetch her rich electoral benefits, Sharmila, no doubt, emerged as a player, even as small-time, in the state. But wasting her time in the name of talks with the Congress, she wasted an opportunity to project herself a serious contender, the analyst said.
Now, with just one and a half month left for the assembly elections, Sharmila is at crossroads. She has neither cadre strength nor does she have any leaders to fight the elections. Though she invited applications for all the 119 seats, one wonders whether any serious politician would apply for her party tickets.
As of now, only Sharmila is a serious contender and she declared that she would fight the elections from Palair. But with serious political stalwarts like Tummala Nageshwar Rao from the Congress and Kandala Upender Reddy from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi being in fray, one wonders she has any scope for winning.
If she doesn’t get even deposit in such a keen contest, what will be Sharmila’s position after the polls?
“Had she agreed to remain silent and agreed for the Congress offer of Rajya Sabha ticket to her, she would have the chance to be in serious politics. But if she loses and her party collapses after polls, it will be the end of the road for her,” analysts say.
