Will KCR’s ‘Kapu mantra’ work in AP?

Marthi Subrahmanyam
Vijayawada

Is Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao planning to bring the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP back to power once again by dividing the Kapu voters to weaken Pawan Kalyan in AP?

KCR has brought Kapu leaders including Thota Chandrasekhar and Parthasaradhi into the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in order to weaken the Pawan Kalyan-led Janasena party in AP.

KCR wants to divide the Kapu community and thus weaken Pawan Kalyan in AP politics, political pundits said. The joining of Kapu leaders belonging to the AP state into the BRS has become a hot topic not only in JSP but also in other parties.

The Kapu and its sub-caste Balija constitute 24 percent of AP but not a Kapu leader has become CM so far in AP. KCR wants to take advantage of the dissatisfaction of Kapus politically by offering them the CM post, according to political experts.

If a Kapu leader is made CM of AP, the BRS has to win over 85 seats to form the government. Senior leaders doubt if the BRS can win the seats.

Moreover, doubts were also raised by the senior leaders whether the Kapu leaders who are in the JSP would quit the party and join the BRS. Though JSP chief Pawan Kalyan announced many times that he did give importance to caste, the Kapus in AP feel that Pawan Kalyan is a popular leader for the people of the Kapu community.

After the humiliation of Pawan Kalyan in Visakhapatnam by the government, the Kapu community people, especially in East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts, are burning with anger at the government. Now, the Kapus in AP are more determined to teach a lesson to Jagan Mohan Reddy.

BJP central executive committee member Kanna Lakshminarayana also opined that KCR and Jagan Reddy hatched a political conspiracy to weaken the Jana Sena Party by dividing the Kapu community. He said that the Kapus would stand by Pawan Kalyan. He also called upon the people of the Kapu community not to fall into the trap of KCR.

Interestingly, Kapu leaders feel that the KCR’s political strategy to divide Kapu voters would not be successful. “The people of AP have focussed only on Chandrababu Naidu and Jagan Mohan Reddy. The Kapu community people are looking forward to the alliance of TDP and JSP. If the TDP-JSP alliance materialises, the Kapus will back the alliance. Due to a lack of knowledge of the AP’s caste politics, KCR wants to implement his political strategy of dividing Kapu voters in AP. In a bid to favour YSRCP politically, KCR might have taken the decision to weaken Pawan Kalyan by dividing Kapu community people in AP,” a senior leader opined.

Kapu community people will not trust the YSRCP. They still back Pawan Kalyan, Kanna Lakshminarayana, Chegondi Harirama Jogaiah, and to some extent, YSRCP MLA Thota Trimurthlu, a Kapu leader said.