The opposition YSR party in Andhra Pradesh needs some soul-searching as far as its political strategies are concerned. The party seems to be losing its sanity in the anxiety not to miss any opportunity to strike at the ruling Telugu Desam party. When Mudragada Padmanabham announced his plan to hold Kapu Ikhya Garjana and indefinite fast, it was YSRC’s Jaganmohan Reddy who announced support first to the agitation. He did this with the hope that the fire Mudragada’s fast ignites would engulf the government and he could win over a strong Kapu community. Jagan dreamed that Kapus support would catapult him to power in 2019. In his undue haste he lost sight of many important things, which an even minded political leader is not supposed to. He supported Mudragada’s political cause and lost sympathy of BC. And finally chief minister Chandrababu Naidu forced Mudragada call off his fast without yielding anything to the fasting leader, except a glass of lemon juice. Naidu nipped the Kapu’s ire in the bud. Mudragada expressed confidence in Naidu. Ultimately Jagan gained nothing by his over enthusiasm. Mudragada called of fast which anyway would have been foiled in a day or two. He gained nothing in return to his “Kapu Jati”. Chandrababu Naidu emerged winner, no sweat.
On other side, Naidu’s cup of woes is overflowing- one example is Amaravati, which is not taking off. Instead of concentrating on these issues as a real opposition party, Jaganmohan Reddy tried to poke his nose into a partisan issue by extending support to the Kapu’s BC demand. Even Mudragada has no clarity on his demand. His post-fast speech clearly exposed his lack of understanding of the Backwardness of a caste. What he knows is crude strategy- fast and foment trouble. ” There is hunger in my Jati. There are poor in my Jati. I want justice to these people. I don’t need reservation for the rich in my jati,” these ‘jati’ talk might be useful to receive applaud from Kapu cheer leaders, but it doesn’t stand scrutiny of sociology of the backwardness of castes in BC list. If the hunger is the criterion, poor farmers of upper castes, who are committing suicide due to crisis in agriculture in thousands, deserve the BC status. There are poor among Brahmins, they too need BC status. Jagan, as the representative of GenNext should offer something new and innovative: he should not become captive of caste lobbyists.
Because of his lack of perspective in politics Mudragada got stuck in Kirlampudi and he has nothing in his arsenal other than fast to pull the crowds, which, Mudragada should remember, do not hesitate to defeat him in elections as they did twice in the past ten years. What Jgan forgot is Kapus opposed BC reservations in the past and now they are demanding the same status.
Kapus are a dominant clique in every party. They are the vocal section in TDP, YSRCP and Congress. The leaders of the respective parties are being browbeaten by this clique. As chief minister, Naidu can afford to make a couple mistakes because the state power he wields could come to his rescue. But, Opposition can ill-afford to take hasty decisions. Jagan definitely lost face among the BCs- many of them are poorest of the poor India. Jagan has supported a fat boy’s rapacious desire to sit among these poor and grab everything made available to them by the government. His decision was not liked by his own MLC Pilli Subhas Chandrabose, who joined the 100 BC castes meeting at Vijayawada yesterday. Jagan should introspect, how many kapus surround him and how many BCs he is allowing to come nearer to him. Would he regain the lost ground?
