YSRCP brainstorms to keep Kapu vote bank intact, decides to project TDP as anti-community party

It is widely believed that the TDP-led alliance rode to power on Pawan Kalyan’s last-minute support in 2014.

Brainstorming session 

The YSRCP held a brainstorming session attended by its elected representatives, including Cabinet ministers, from the Kapu community at Rajamahendravaram — previously known as Rajahmundry — on Monday, 31 October.

The session was to device plans to disseminate information on the pro-Kapu policies of the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP government, besides taking on the Pawan Kalyan-N Chandrababu Naidu combine.

Incidentally, a meeting of Kapu leaders was held for the first time in recent times.

The four-hour meeting also discussed Pawan Kalyan’s comments targeting Kapu leaders in the YSRCP. At a recent party meeting, the actor-politician lambasted the leaders, saying they were working as slaves to YSRCP supremo Jagan, who is from the Reddy community.

The meeting passed three resolutions: To invite Kapus from all nominated posts, including zilla parishad chairpersons, to a huge forum to be held in Vijayawada. The forum will discuss and decide on the party’s future programmes to further boost welfare activities that will benefit the community.

The second resolution was to organise door-to-door visits to apprise people of the pro-Kapu welfare programmes the government had launched. The meeting also decided that senior leaders should hold one-on-one meetings with all Kapu leaders to brief them about their future roles.

‘TDP is anti-Kapu’

The Kapu leaders in the YSRCP have decided to effectively spread the message in their community that TDP is an anti-Kapu party, and Pawan Kalyan is joining hands with Naidu to defeat YSRCP that had rolled out several welfare schemes for the caste group.

“The TDP is an anti-Kapu party.  It’s unfortunate that hours after talking about the murder of Vangaveeti Mohan Ranga, Pawan Kalyan met and shook hands with Chandrababu Naidu, who heads the party that was behind the murder,” Irrigation Minister Ambati Rambabu alleged after the meeting.

The minister was apparently referring to Naidu meeting Pawan Kalyan in Vijayawada on 18 October.

“Naidu had deceived Kapus in the name of reservations. His government had misbehaved with the family of prominent Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham. The YSRCP has given a lot of prominence to the Kapus in the party and given many posts,” he further said.

He added that the meeting condemned the language Pawan Kalyan had used while referring to YSRCP’s Kapu MLAs.

“Under the current dispensation, Kapus no longer have to play second fiddle to an untrustworthy leadership. They are able to lead a life of dignity and respect today. The chief minister is earnest and committed to protecting each and every Kapu family in the state. Do not fall prey to the nefarious strategy of the Opposition that believes in only use-and-throw policy,” the minister stated.

Rambabu added that Pawan Kalyan is working to make Chandrababu Naidu, who heads the anti-Kapu party, the chief minister of the state.

“In 2019, Pawan Kalyan had contested independently to ensure that the anti-incumbency vote against the then TDP government split and Naidu retained power. But he now propagates that the Opposition parties should join hands so that the anti-YSRCP votes are not split so that Naidu can become chief minister,” Deputy Chief Minister Kottu Satyanarayana said.

Kapus benefited more in the past three years than during the five-year rule of the TDP government. At least ₹26,000 crore went to Kapus either through DBT (direct benefit transfer) or non-DBT schemes,” Deputy Chief Minister Kottu Satyanarayana added.

YSRCP has at least 26 MLAs and three MPs from among the Kapus in its 151 MLAs and 22 MPs.

Vangaveeti Ranga, an iconic figure for Kapus

Even several years after his death, Kapus hold Vangaveeti Mohan Ranga an iconic figure who is hugely revered in Krishna, Guntur, and the two Godavari districts.

Ranga, the then Congress MLA, was murdered when he was on an indefinite fast demanding pattas of housing sites for the poor on 26 December, 1988. He was 41.

Vangaveti Mohan Ranga

It is speculated that the TDP leaders were behind the murder. Kapu leaders often say it was a state-sponsored murder since the TDP was then in power.

His death sparked riots across the state, especially in Krishna and Guntur districts. Maverick film director Ram Gopal Varma made a movie about the “gang wars” of Vijayawada, prevalent during the late 1970s and 1980s. The movie, Vangaveeti, also depicted Ranga’s murder.

Kapu leaders often evoke Ranga’s name to assert their identity in politics.

Pawan Kalyan, in his 17 October meeting, prominently spoke about Ranga’s murder and asked where were these so-called Kapu leaders and custodians of the community who could not protect Ranga.

Why Rajamahendravaram?

The YSRCP held the brainstorming session in Rajamahendravaram for a reason. The Godavari region, a Kapu stronghold, also has a sizable population of BCs. The region is crucial for all political parties.

While it was an almost total sweep for YSRCP in the region in the 2019 polls, both the erstwhile Godavari districts may have a bearing on the poll outcome in 2024, if the Jana Sena and TDP cobble up a pre-poll alliance.

A total rout in West Godavari, which has 14 Assembly segments, and winning only five segments out of the total 19 in East Godavari, had severely dented YSRCP’s chances in the 2014 polls. Five years later, YSRCP swept through the two Godavari districts, and Jagan became the chief minister.

Kapus are generally a homogenous group who vote en masse for one particular party.

After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Kapu votes have become crucial for any political party to form the government. Actor Pawan Kalyan had helped the TDP attract Kapu votes by not fielding Jana Sena candidates in 2014.