Inclusion of Kapu community in the Backward Classes list and extension of reservations to them on par with other BCs was one of the major promises made by the Telugu Desam Party in its 2014 election manifesto.
The promise fetched his party a lot of support from Kapus and Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan also extended support to TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu.
But after coming to power, he completely forgot the demand.
He dodged the issue for quite a long time in the name of appointing a commission by Justice Manjunatha and it was only last year that he got a report from the commission and got it approved in the assembly ahead of the elections.
He sent the report to the centre knowing fully well that it would not be accepted as the quota exceeds beyond the upper limit of 50 per cent.
And when Narendra Modi passed a legislation 10 per cent reservations for economically backward sections, Naidu quickly used the same and announced five per cent of it for Kapus, thereby treating them as EBC, rather than OBC.
Now with the general elections just four days away, the TDP chief completely ignored the Kapu quota demand and conveniently avoided its mention in his party’s election manifesto.
All that he mentioned in the manifesto was that the government was committed to implementation of five per cent quota for Kapus under EBC and that he would extend financial benefits to the community through Kapu Welfare Corporation.
