Ex CM Anjaiah was not a Dalit but a Reddy by caste. His actual name was Ramakrishna Reddy. His grandson Abhishek Reddy has now come out and clarified the same to PM Modi and the BJP leaders. He even threatened to proceed legally against them if the BJP leaders continued to make needless political controversies on Anjaiah’s caste status during elections. The reason for his outburst is the recent remarks of Modi who blamed late Rajeev Gandhi for humiliating and disrespecting Anjaiah because he was a Dalit chief minister of United Andhra Pradesh.

Despite several objections in the past, the BJP leaders ignored the Anjaiah’s family and went on recalling the Rajeev episode only to criticize Congress for allegedly disrespecting Dalits in a high-handed manner. The BJP is using this episode to dent the traditional strong Dalit vote bank of Congress. For various reasons, Anjaiah came to be seen during his time as a Dalit leader because of his pro-poor image. His actual Reddy name was not heard of much. It was also widely circulated in political circles that Rajeev insulted Anjaiah in the presence of Congress leaders. The BJP is using it now to push Congress into the defensive mode.