The BJP, it appears, is pinning its hopes on Kapu politics for sustaining itself in AP politics. The party has given a deadline of August 15 to announce Kapu reservations. The party knows pretty well that it is the Centre which has to give the reservations, not the state government. It also knows the Centre can’t give it as it does not want to open a Pandora’s box of problems. But, the state BJP is all set to rake up Kapu issue.

Interestingly, Rajya Sabha MP GVL Narasimha Rao raised the Kapu reservation issue in the Rajya Sabha. As if this was not enough, he also held two key meetings with the Kapus – one in Palakole and the other in Rajahmundry. Even state BJP chief, Somu Veerraju, a Kapu himself, backed the idea of Kapu reservations.

The BJP strategists feel that the party can politically do both a high jump, a long jump and a pole vault with the Kapu issue. The party feels that it can get the support of the Kapus, who constitute 19 per cent in the state population. It feels that this issue can catapult it as a third political force in the state.

But the BJP knows that the Kapu reservation issue is a complicated one. Then, why is it trying to make it a central issue in AP politics. Will it be able to assume the leadership of Kapus on the basis of this issue? What if the issue boomerangs and the Kapus turn against the party just as they have turned against the TDP in the 2019 elections?