Congress Kapu leaders move towards throne

HYDERABAD: The Reddy and Kapu divide in the Congress seems to be widening with each passing day. At a time when the Congress high command is contemplating 'key changes' in the State Government as well as the state party unit, the push for going to the 2014 Assembly elections on the BC plank is gaining momentum.

Kapu leaders in the Congress are uniting under the leadership of PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana and Union Minister of State for Tourism K Chiranjeevi by backing this idea of a BC tilt, apparently to corner Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is almost facing a rebellion from some of his Cabinet colleagues.

A majority of the Kapu leaders, who favour 'unity of BCs and Kapus' in the Congress to retain power even after 2014, are now openly seeking BC status for Kapus across the State.

Chiranjeevi's close aide and Endowments Minister C Ramachandraiah, who has taken the lead to unify Kapu leaders in the ruling party to press for BC status to their community, is going to hold a meeting with leaders of the Kapu community here Thursday.

Incidentally, the meeting is being organised on a day when Kiran Reddy will be busy in Delhi confabulating with party bosses on the proposed 'hard decisions'.

Ramachandraiah said, 'An action plan will be chalked out during the meeting with Kapu leaders to exert pressure on the government to accord BC status to Kapus'.

However, as the meeting is aimed at achieving BC status for Kapus, Congress leaders, who are from sub-castes among Kapus like Thurpu Kapu and Munnuru Kapu, are not attending it. The reason is that these sub-castes already have BC status.

Though it appears that Kapu leaders in the Congress are seeking BC status to the community, the bottomline is that they have now set their sights on leading the party in the state, which is now dominated by Reddys.

Kapu leaders like Ramachandraiah, former PCC chiefs D Srinivas and K Kesava Rao, and Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao argue that since traditional voters of the party like Reddys and SCs are leaning towards the YSR Congress, the Congress will have to concentrate on an alternate vote-bank. They believe going to the polls on a 'BC plank' by notifying the Kapus as BCs will turn the electoral tide in the favour of Congress.

These leaders are of the opinion that if the Congress can woo BCs, who constitute about half of the State's population, and Kapus, who are around 14 per cent of the population, the party can revive its electoral fortunes.

'If Kapus are included in the BCs, the entire population of BCs across the state will be more than 65 per cent. This will keep the Congress on a winning wicket in the ensuing polls,' former PCC chief K Kesava Rao told Express.

According to him, if the Congress can follow this formula, it can easily undo the damage done to it due to the exodus of Reddys and Malas to the YSRC and Madigas to the TDP.

About 15 Kapu MLAs of the Congress met at the residence of Ramachandraiah on Tuesday and resolved to exert pressure on the party high command.

D Srinivas submitted a report to Sonia Gandhi for considering the option of going to the 2014 polls on the 'BC plank' to turn the electoral tide in the party's favour.