New Delhi: Buoyed by its recent victory in the Telangana Assembly elections and in a bid to revive its fortunes in Andhra Pradesh which goes to the polls this year, the Congress on Thursday inducted Y.S. Sharmila into the party in New Delhi in the presence of party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and former party president Rahul Gandhi.With her induction into the grand old party, Sharmila announced the merger of her Yuvajana Sramika Rythu (YSR) Telangana Party with the Congress.“It gives me immense joy that the YSR Telangana Party is going to be a part of the Indian National Congress from today onwards, that YSR Telangana Party is not going to be separate anymore from the Congress party gives me great delight,” Sharmila said while addressing reporters after her induction.Sharmila launched the YSR Telangana Party in July 2021 after serious differences arose between her and her brother Andhra Pradesh chief minister and YSRCP chief Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy.Their father and veteran Congress leader Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy led the party to victory in undivided Andhra Pradesh twice in 2004 and 2009.Sharmila said that her father would be happy with his daughter returning to the Congress fold.“Y S Rajashekhar Reddy, the legendary leader of the Telugu people not only served the Congress party all his life but also gave his life serving the Congress party. And today it would give him great joy that his daughter is following in his footsteps and is going to be a part of the Congress party,” she said.Y.S. Sharmila with Sonia Gandhi.‘Largest secular party’Referring to the Congress as the “largest secular party” of the country, Sharmila said that her decision to join the party was against the backdrop of the ethnic violence ongoing in Manipur.“The Congress party is still the largest secular party of our country. The Congress party has always upheld the true culture of India. The Congress party has built our nation’s foundations up. The Congress party has unwaveringly served all communities, uniting all sections of the people of India,” she said.“I must also say at this moment that as a Christian it pained that such cruelty took place in Manipur. 2,000 churches were vandalised, and 60,000 people became homeless. And that kind of cruelty is something I am not able to digest till this day. That is the day I thought, it suddenly struck me that this is what will happen if a secular party is not in power. Therefore, I am joining the Congress and merging the YSR Telangana Party with it today very gladly because I know that the Congress party will uphold all the sections of the people in Indian society.”Also read: Sharmila’s YSR Party Won’t Contest Telangana Assembly Polls, Offers Support to CongressCongress’ revival plans in Andhra Pradesh Sharmila’s induction into the Congress comes as the party looks to revive its fortunes in the state ahead of Assembly elections and the upcoming general elections this year.In December, the party appointed Lok Sabha MP Manickam Tagore B (who had earlier served as the AICC in-charge in Telangana) as the Andhra Pradesh party in-charge.Her induction comes just a week after a strategy meeting of Andhra leaders in Delhi under Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, on December 27, after which Tagore wrote on X that the party welcomes all those who have left the organisation in Andhra Pradesh to return.“We welcome the leaders and workers who have left Congress in Andhra and believe in the ideology of Congress to come back and contribute to building a better Andhra Pradesh.”We welcome the leaders and workers who have left Congress in Andhra and believe in the ideology of Congress to come back and contribute to building a better Andhra Pradesh.#ComeBackToCongress @INC_Andhra— Manickam Tagore .B🇮🇳மாணிக்கம் தாகூர்.ப (@manickamtagore) December 27, 2023Following the meeting Kharge said that “every leader and worker is going to work hard and reestablish the bond which the people of Andhra Pradesh once shared with the Congress party.”Sharmila shot to prominence when she undertook a 3,100 km padayatra in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh when Jagan Mohan Reddy was in jail in a disproportionate assets case in 2012-13. She had also campaigned for her brother in his absence while he was in jail in the Andhra Pradesh byelections which then led the YSRCP to win 15 out of 18 Assembly constituencies and Nellore Lok Sabha constituency that went to polls.After her brother’s release from jail, Sharmila again played a role in the victory of the YSRCP in elections to the 2019 Andhra Pradesh elections which ended the TDP rule in the state.Following differences with her brother, Sharmila took out another padyatra in 2021 in Telangana. It was reported that she had political ambitions but in Telangana and not Andhra Pradesh.Last year, ahead of the elections in Telangana, she had announced her party’s support for the Congress by deciding to not contest the polls. Following her induction, she said that she is happy to have contributed to the party’s election victory in the state.“Mr. Rahul Gandhi has gained immense confidence not only in me but most people in India with the Bharat Jodo Yatra. And that yatra led to the victory in Karnataka. I realised that will have a domino effect in Telangana and therefore, because Congress stood a chance of winning in Telangana, I graciously withheld from contesting the elections in Telangana because we did not want to break the anti-KCR vote,” she said on Thursday.“Today Congress has won in the state and I am most happy that we contributed to that victory. It was my father’s dream to see Mr. Rahul Gandhi as the prime minister of our country and I am very glad that I am going to be a part in making that happen.”While the Congress has not yet announced what role will be given to Sharmila, she said that she will serve the party in “whichever responsibility with loyalty, dignity and diligence.”Jagan Mohan Reddy meets KCRAs his sister joined the Congress in New Delhi, Jagan Mohan Reddy called on former Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao at his residence in Hyderabad. Earlier on Wednesday while addressing a public meeting in Kakinada, Jagan accused opposition parties of “dividing families” and forming unholy alliances. He said that the coming days will see an “increase in party alliances which will break apart families and even bring about atrocities, false promises and pave way for deceit,” reported The News Minute.