There can be no government in Andhra Pradesh without the Kammas or Reddys in it.
Traditionally, the Reddys have been part of the Congress and the TDP is by and large a Kamma Party.
However, the bifurcation of the State has brought new equations into play. While the Kammas managed to retain power in AP, in Telangana it is the Velamas led by KCR who are in power.
The Reddys find themselves out of power in both Andhra and Telangana.
With Ponnala Lakshmaiah, a BC becoming the PCC President of Telangana, the Reddys felt sidelined and did not extend their wholehearted support to him in the recent elections. They were also angry with the fact that Ponnala in his ambition to become the PCC President had written a letter to Rahul Gandhi in which he said that the Kamma and Reddy communities are responsible for destroying Andhra Pradesh.
While KCR has given a fair representation to the Reddy community in his cabinet, the community ideally would prefer to serve under one of their own. Against this backdrop, Jagan’s decision to revive the Party in Telangana has presented them with a possibility.
The community is believed to have monitored the response to Sharmila’s yatra in Telangana. If the Congress High Command does not replace Ponnala soon with one of their own and if Jagan is smart enough to seize in on the opportunity, then the YSRCP might receive the active backing of the powerful Reddys of Telangana.
One other likely obstacle to YSRCP in Telangana is the anti-Telangana tag attached to Jagan and the fact that he is from Seemandhra. However, community feeling is stronger than regional feeling and with the public proving time and again in many elections that they have a very short memory, there is no reason why Jagan backed by his community cannot get an active foothold in Telangana as well.
