Kadapa Clash: Avinash Reddy Vs YS Sharmila?

Newly appointed Andhra Pradesh Congress president YS Sharmila has emerged as a tough nut to crack for YSR Congress and she has been taking every chance to critique her brother, YS Jagan’s camp. After the early rounds of verbal assaults on Jagan, Sharmila is set to wage a direct face-to-face electoral battle against YCP.

According to the latest hearsay, Sharmila is nearly finalized to contest for the Kadapa parliament seat on Congress’s behalf. AICC leadership is reportedly asking her to contest from Kadapa Lok Sabha seat which has been with the YS family members since 1989. If so, she will come up against her cousin, and a very close associate of Jagan: YS Avinash Reddy who is the sitting MP from here.

Sharmila has repeatedly been speaking about the YS Vivekananda Reddy murder topic and claiming that her own family members are behind this. She can take her political fight against Jagan Mohan Reddy mainstream if she does actually contest against Avinash Reddy from the Kadapa Lok Sabha segment.

After Jagan stepped down as Kadapa MP in 2014, YS Avinash Reddy won from here twice(2014,19). The YS family largely didn’t have any major competitors in Kadapa so the victory for YCP candidates seemed like a formality. But this time, Sharmila herself could be getting into the fight and she could substantially tear apart the traditional vote bank of YCP. So the Kadapa MP election campaign could turn a lot more interesting if Sharmila fields her candidacy here.