Ever since some individuals from Bihar started influencing Chandrababu Naidu and Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy with their advice, the political landscape of Andhra Pradesh is undergoing changes, causing disappointment among Kammas, Reddys, and Kapus.
It is known that since independence in India, Reddys have played a vital role in AP politics, winning the faith and loyalty of the majority of people. There have been no major complaints from the majority population, even though a significant number of Reddys serve as MLAs and MPs in the party. Whether it is Congress or YCP in AP, the Reddy community has been the driving force.
A similar pattern is followed by TDP, with Kammas in the majority in the party. The majority of Kammas owe their allegiance to TDP and take pride in doing so. The wealthy NRI Kammas have been the funding source for this party for decades, and news dailies and TV channels owned by Kamma community bigwigs have backed up the party.
However, suddenly, advisors from Bihar suggested these two party leaders to discard their casteist tags and allocate the majority of seats to BCs, SCs, and STs. Surprisingly, both leaders followed suit, disappointing prospective Reddy and Kamma candidates.
Kammas from Guntur and Krishna districts are upset with TDP, and they are revolting against Chandrababu Naidu through verbal attacks. Kesineni Nani, the most prominent Kamma figure from TDP, is in loggerheads with CBN now. Similarly, Rayapati also came out breaking the photo frame of Chandrababu Naidu and uttering disrespectful words against him.
On the other hand, the same is the case with YCP, where Ongole and Nellore Reddys like Kotamreddy and Anam Ramanarayana Reddy are verbally criticizing YS Jagan Mohan Reddy out of disappointment for not getting tickets this time. While there were 7-8 Reddy MPs in YCP, with the new decision of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the number is coming down to 3-4.
Many argue that it is acceptable to give better preference to BCs, SCs, and STs in the parties but not at the cost of losing the core backbone castes of the parties.
The Bihari strategists are suggesting allocating tickets based on the caste population in each constituency. Is this the way to work? Do they assume that if the candidate from the majority caste contests from a constituency, he wins? This mindless strategy is surprisingly being accepted by both party heads. The bottom line is that Bihari strategists are completely unaware of how voters think and how far the caste factor of a candidate plays a role during elections.
If seats and positions are to be allocated based on caste, then neither Jagan nor CBN nor Pawan would have the right to come to power and rule, as they hail from communities that are less populous in the state.
The plight of Kapus is also dire in the state, as they lack confidence that they would gain power under the leadership of Pawan Kalyan.
While Narendra Modi hired Bihar strategists earlier, he later understood that they were of no use and kept them aside. However, the Telugu party heads are still blind and assume that their Bihar strategists would work wonders.
These strategists are spoiling the political ecosystem under the guise of changing the scenario for the better.
The irony is that the same Bihar strategist who started his own party in Bihar is failing to contest and win even a sarpanch there. If he has a strategy to design the political future of everyone, why can't he do that for himself first?
Anybody can take money and give advice as strategists, but the party heads should have minds to accept their advice.
Moreover, the fact that should be realized is that the success of an MLA candidate depends on his leadership and goodwill among the voters, not mere caste equations.
Kiran Sharma
