YSR Telangana Party founder YS Sharmila on Thursday said her party will contest from all 119 seats of the state Assembly, adding that there will be no alliance with the Congress. The state goes to polls on November 30, and counting of votes will take place on December 3.
She also said that she will be contesting from the Palair constituency while adding that her party demands that she should contest from one more constituency.
Speaking at a party meeting, Sharmila said she waited for four months for a response from the Congress leadership on her proposal to merge her party or work with the grand old party. As there was no response from Congress, the YSRTP decided to field candidates in all the constituencies.
“We wanted to go along with Congress party to ensure that the anti-incumbency vote does not split. If the anti-incumbency vote splits it will ultimately benefit Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. But it (association with Congress) did not happen. Now, blame is not on us (If the anti-incumbency vote splits),” she said, as quoted by PTI.
“YSR Telangana Party will contest from all 119 constituencies,” she further said.
Sharmila, the sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, had earlier said her discussions with Congress on “working together or a possible merger”, have come to a final stage. She had also met Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and had set a deadline of October 1 to the Congress to spell out its stand on the possible merger or working together.
Meanwhile, the 49-year-old leader said that there was also demand from the party cadre that her husband Anil Kumar and mother Vijayamma should also contest in the upcoming Assembly polls.