It is an open secret that the Telugu Desam Party and the YSR Congress party have been representing two predominant castes in Andhra Pradesh – Kammas and Reddys, though they never agree with the same.
Though the parties have been claiming to have the backing of weaker sections right from the beginning, they have been, wittingly or unwittingly, giving a lot of prominence to their respective communities whenever they enjoyed power.
If Kammas were benefitted largely during the Chandrababu Naidu regime, it is now the turn of Reddys during the Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
Both the communities had enjoyed the political patronage for the last four decades, but there were hardly any instances of fighting with each other openly on caste lines.
In fact, during the Y S Rajasekhar Reddy regime, too, Kammas have come closer to him – whether it was Kavuri, Lagadapati or Rayapati, to ensure that their business interests were not affected.
But for the first time, the Kammas and Reddys have started indulging in open war, attacking each other.
The Kammas are not able to digest the attempts of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government to destroy their financial roots in the state, which they had gained over a period of four decades.
They are not able to tolerate the way the Jagan government tried to ran them down on Amaravati capital issue and the way his party leaders have been attacking the community in general.
The latest comments made by Rajya Sabha member V Vijay Sai Reddy on Kamma community added fuel to the fire.
The Kammas are now strongly reacting to the onslaught by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
The meeting of Kammas in Nizamabad where they targeted Jagan and the strong comments made by producer-actor Bandla Ganesh against the Reddys are an indication to this open confrontation between the two communities.
It is quite obvious that the Kammas have decided to consolidate strongly against the Jagan Mohan Reddy government and is hell bent on pulling down the YSRC from power.
That is why, Jagan is making all out efforts to get rid of its Reddy tag, but giving a lot of importance to the weaker sections in every field – right from the cabinet to the nominated posts to the official postings.
That would fetch him an edge over the TDP in the next elections.
