Congress leader and MLC T Jeevan Reddy today addressed the speculations regarding Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's younger sister Y S Sharmila's plans to launch a new political party.
Expressing his support for the move, he said that India was a democracy, and that anybody was, therefore, free to form a political party.
However, the MLC also made clear his belief that there was no space in the state's political arena in which to float a new party at the moment.
"Former Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Rajasekhar Reddy had become the CM due to the support of the Congress He was a greatly loved and well-respected leader. I wonder how the former CM's supporters will react to the formation of the new party," he said.
Addressing the political matters of Telangana, the Congress leader, in what was likely a bid to undercut the BJP, then said that his party was the "only real alternative" to the TRS in the state.
He also commented on the reports of the impending change of guard in the state, and said that the state's cabinet ministers were deliberately leaking information regarding the matter for publicity, and mocked incumbent CM K Chandrashekar Rao for using the speculations to "tell the world that he is still alive".
The political leaders of both the Telugu-speaking states have been in a tizzy since reports of Y S Sharmila's plans to break away from the YSR Congress Party to
form her own party hit the headlines.