If anyone thinks YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is politically immature, he has to think twice.
For, Jagan has mastered the politics in a short span of time and has grown into a shrewd politician over the last five years.
He knows how to counter the opposition criticism and defend himself and his party on various issues.
It is an open secret in Andhra politics that Kammas and Kapus are traditional rivals. Similarly, the Reddy community does not gel with Kammas.
Whether one agrees with this or not, the caste equations have been dominating the politics in the state.
So, it a Kapu or Reddy politician criticises a Kamma leader, or vice versa, it will not have much impact as such attacks have been very common over the years.
But if a Kamma foul mouths another Kamma or a Kapu leader attacks another Kapu, it will have tremendous impact on the leaders and cadre.
Apparently realising this, Jagan is cleverly pitching Kamma leaders to attack Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu and his son Lokesh; and Kapu leaders to target Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan.
When Pawan Kalyan has started unleashing attack on the Jagan government over sand issue and took out a massive rally in Visakhapatnam, Reddys did not launch a counter-attack on Jana Sena chief.
It was Kapu leaders like Ambati Rambabu, Perni Venkatramaiah alias Nani, Kurasala Kanna Babu and Botsa Satyanarayana, who came down heavily on Pawan.
Similarly, when Chandrababu Naidu took up Sand Deeksha in Vijayawada, those who attacked him were from Kamma community – starting from Vasantha Venkat Krishna Prasad, Kodali Nani, Devineni Avinash and Vallabhaneni Vamsi etc.
So, only a diamond can cut another diamond. And Jagan has been using this formula to counter his political adversaries.
