Former MP from Amalapuram in Andhra Pradesh, G V Harsha Kumar, said that making Y S Sharmila Reddy, as the APCC president was a mistake and misguided decision by the Congress high command. He said that Sharmila doesnot know Telugu and she can’t speak Telugu. He also alleged that she was not able to connect to the party workers at the grassroots level.
Harsha Kumar wrote a letter to Congress top leaders, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikharjuna Kharge, K C Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh and Mukul Wasnik explaining how the Congress is having trouble in the state to grow organizationally.
Harsha Kumar said that Sharmila had earlier said that she was born and brought up in Telangana. She declared herself as a daughter and daughter-in-law of Telangana. She dedicated her life for the people of Telangana. She had formed YSR Telangana Party and is midentified more as a Telangana woman rather than the Andhra woman. That was the reason why people of Andhra were not accepting her leadership, he said.
He found fault with the AICC high command for making Sharmila as the APCC president. He wanted he party leadership to change the APCC president and appoint anyone who lives in Andhra Pradesh. He said that Sharmila lives in Hyderabad, like some other leaders who were made the APCC presidents.
He also blamed the AICC leadership for making K Rosaiah as the chief minister after the death of Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy. He felt that the AICC should have made S Jaipal Reddy as the chief minister and thus silence the Telangana movement. Even after taking a decision to give Telangana state, the AICC leadership had done a mistake by not getting the TRS merged with the Congress before announcing the statehood for Telangana, he said.
He also blamed the Congress leadership for looking at either Kammas or Reddy as the ruling class in the two Telugu States. The Congress leadership believes in these two castes in the two states, he said. He wanted the Congress leadership to look beyond these two castes and identify the leaders from other castes, including Dalits, to strengthen the party.
Harsha Kumar said that the Dalits and BCs have been the backbone of the Congress for decades while the leadership was kept in the hands of Reddys. He wanted the Congress high command to look at the Dalits now to lead the party and rebuild the party in the state.
