Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) chief Gidugu Rudra Raju resigned from his post Monday, setting off speculation that YS Sharmila, the sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy who recently joined the Congress, is set to take over from him.

Raju, who was supposed to lead a voter-outreach programme from January 20, sent his resignation to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge last week. Sources within the party said he did not attribute any reasons for his resignation. Raju, who was named Andhra Congress chief in November 2022, refused to comment. An MLC in undivided Andhra Pradesh, he was earlier the All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary in-charge of Odisha.

Sources within the party said a new state chief would be picked later this month.

Sharmila, who is the daughter of former Andhra Pradesh CM and the late Congress veteran Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, merged her party YSR Telangana Party into the Congress on January 4. She said she was “ready to take on a role in any state”, but the buzz was that the Congress was keen that she head the embattled Andhra Congress unit and take on her brother in the coming Assembly elections.

Following Sharmila’s entry into the Congress, Raju had said he would “welcome” any position she was given.

If Sharmila becomes the state Congress chief, Andhra politics could see a shrill brother-sister duel in the forthcoming simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the state.

After Jagan’s fallout with the Congress led to the formation of the YSRCP in 2011, Jagan had taken over the affairs of the party across Andhra while his sister was named the national convener. Sources close to the YSR family say differences soon developed between the siblings, with Jagan and Sharmila not seeing eye-to-eye on many issues following their father’s death in 2009.

In July 2021, the brother-sister duo parted ways politically, with Sharmila floating her outfit in Telangana, ostensibly trying her luck in the neighbouring state to avoid stepping on her brother’s toes.

Both the YSRCP and YSRTP talked of taking forward YSR’s legacy and bringing back “Rajanna Rajyam” (YSR’s governance).

Sources had told The Indian Express earlier that ahead of Sharmila joining the Congress, Jagan had sent Y S Subba Reddy to dissuade her, for fear of the message that a fight between the siblings would send to the state. However, the talks had failed to reach a solution.

The Congress has been on the margins in Andhra since 2014, when it was bifurcated to form Telangana. The party could not win a single Assembly or Lok Sabha seat in the state in both the 2014 and 2019 elections.

With the Assembly wins in Karnataka and Telangana acting as a major boost, the Congress is now hoping to do well in Andhra too. It has been reaching out to people, who were angry with the party dispensation for splitting the state, to gauge the pulse on the ground. Raju’s programme was also a part of this.