Sharmila Came, Achieved, Disappeared

[Anta Assamey]

YS Sharmila, the newly appointed Andhra Pradesh Congress wing president has led an eventful last six months after her entry into AP politics. She has been operating as one of the mainstays of the AP political scene in recent weeks and particularly so, during the elections.

After getting appointed as AP Congress president in January, Sharmila was tireless with her attacks on Jagan Mohan Reddy. She blamed Jagan for supporting YS Avinash in the YS Vivekananda Reddy murder case and used this as the focal point of her campaign in Kadapa and all of Rayalaseema region.

But YSR Congress was dismissive of this as Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy himself said Sharmila is not to be taken seriously and she is out with personal vendetta.

The end result was so very concerning for YSR Congress that the party lost 7 out of the 10 MLA seats in Kadapa, which has been a bastion of the YS family for three decades. Not many can argue that Sharmila clearly split the Kadapa voters away from YCP.

In a span of just 6 months, Sharmila came to AP, became AP Congress president, led the anti-Jagan campaign, and achieved the goal of defeating him. Immediately after seeing the end of Jagan’s tenure as the CM, Sharmila disappeared and she is nowhere to be seen.

AP Congress leaders are waiting for Sharmila’s return to assess the AP political trends, but she is away from party activities. Perhaps she will return at a later point based on her convenience, but she has certainly dealt Jagan with substantial damage.