File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi laying the foundation stone, inaugurating various projects at Amaravati, in Andhra Pradesh on May 02, 2025.
By G Krishna Mohan Rao*
Vijaywada: As the National Development Alliance (NDA) government in Andhra Pradesh, headed by Telugu Desam Party’s Nara Chandrababu Naidu, entered its second year in office, there seems to be many challenges ahead on development as well as on welfare and the Law and Order front. But more than these, the caste factor may play an ugly role and divide the society into Kapu, Kamma, Reddy and other castes. At a personal level, another challenge before Naidu is going to be positioning his son, Nara Lokesh, to be his natural successor for the chief minister post.
Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, a few days ago, said that the Union Government was extending desired support, and they hope to sustain positive momentum for the next four years. So, the NDA government in Andhra will remain stable with strong support from the Centre. Since the TDP is extending crucial support to Narendra Modi’s NDA government at the Centre, it is likely going to be a smooth affair for Naidu. He has extended full support to the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government, which is necessary for various reasons.
For Naidu’s construction of the capital city, Amaravati and the Polavaram Irrigation Project were extremely crucial for the development of the state. Administrative clearance was given to Andhra Pradesh for investments amounting to Rs 5 lakh crore. The state government is committed to completing the Polavaram project by 2027, and the state could secure a financial package of Rs 11,400 crore for the Vizag Steel Plant, while Arcelor Mittal—Nippon Steel was preparing to set up a massive plant in the north coastal.
On the welfare side, Naidu made several promises but may not be able to fulfil all promises given the huge financial crunch, as the earlier Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) regime of Jagan Mohan Reddy borrowed huge sums of money from the market to implement his welfare agenda. Ever since June last year, Naidu has borrowed Rs 1.5 lakh crores.
Since development and welfare are the two main pillars of the NDA government in the state, Naidu dared not challenge the Union government. At the same time, Prime Minister Modi, who is running a minority government, may not antagonise or provoke Naidu or, for that matter, the Janata Dal United supremo Nitish Kumar, whose support is crucial for his survival.
At the political level, the YSRCP leader and former chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is trying to stage a comeback in state politics after his party’s bad performance in the last Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Mostly operating from Bengaluru, Jagan Mohan Reddy is reactivating his cadres and workers by organising dharnas and protests against the ruling NDA for its failure to implement the poll promises. However, Chief Minister Naidu is acting tough against the YSRCP leaders for violating and disturbing law and order. Jagan Mohan Reddy was alleging that the high-handedness of the police resulted in false cases being filed indiscriminately against his party workers. Reddy was critical of Naidu’s style of functioning and misuse of police force in arresting his party workers. The NDA alleges that Jagan Mohan Reddy is resorting to dirty caste politics to divide the TDP, which is a constituent of the NDA.
In Andhra Pradesh, a peculiar political situation came into being after last year’s Assembly elections. The NDA combine consisting of TDP, Jana Sena Party (JSP) and the BJP became very strong, and they would like to go ahead with the same combination in future too. The JSP chief, deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan, said during the first anniversary of the NDA government in the state, that their combination should be in office for at least 15 years to achieve the Viksit Bharat target by 2047. He also said that nothing would affect the unity of NDA constituents.
The main opposition in Andhra Pradesh, the YSRCP, is concentrating on the strength of the TDP and its social base. As everyone knows, in AP, the Kamma caste is the TDP’s strong supporters. It has almost been a guiding force for the TDP since its inception. The YSRCP is believed to have decided to break the support of the Kamma community for the TDP by dividing it. Jagan Mohan Reddy accused the NDA government of harassing some Kamma leaders for maintaining close ties with the YSRCP. This led to a widespread discussion on future political developments.
It looks strange that a political party like YSRCP, which ruled the state for five years( 2019-24), is playing the caste card to grab power instead of trying to win people using its populist schemes through which its government poured Rs 2.70 lakh crore into public money. The YSRCP thinks that unless the absolute support the TDP gets from the Kammas is broken, the party wouldn’t be able to win. This is indeed a shocking development for all democrats who consider caste as an impediment that prevents the smooth running of the democratic system.
Jagan Mohan Reddy earlier cited caste as a factor in deciding Amaravati as AP’s capital, saying that the area belongs to Kammas. The fact that the charge came from an established political party raised many eyebrows. The YSRCP is hardly trying to come out of its humiliating defeat at the hands of the NDA combine. The NDA bagged 164 seats out of 175 in the Assembly. With just 11 seats, the YSRCP lost the Opposition tag in the Assembly, as that requires a minimum of 10 per cent of the seats in the House.
The YSRCP thinks that if it can break the unity of the Kammas and their support for the TDP, then it can break the TDP’s spine. Then only the YSRCP can emerge victorious with the support of the same community. The Reddy community spread across the state has a huge population, and the majority of them are supporters of Jagan Mohan Reddy, particularly in the Rayalaseema region.
The Reddy and Kamma communities are considered to be the ruling castes due to their strong social and financial base in society. The Reddys ruled the state till the emergence of the TDP in 1982, and it brought down the curtains on Reddy rule in 1983. The Reddys want to break the unity of Kamma voters in backing the TDP. Jagan has contributed much to diluting the Amaravati capital issue by floating the idea of having three capitals, thinking that Kamma had a hand in making Amaravati the capital.
Even after losing the election, he recently asked the NDA government to construct the buildings needed for the capital city on 500 acres between Nagarjuna University and Guntur city. This indicates that he would continue with the original policy on Amaravati crafted by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.
Jagan Mohan Reddy must be aware of the fact that Amaravati is a high-priority project of the Kammas, and he is trying to bag their support for a possible comeback. Other castes, which have been the principal supporters of mainstream parties, have been rather left in the lurch by the same parties. Although the caste card may bring success to some political parties, it would ruin the spirit of democracy if it were allowed to play a key role in any party.
*Senior journalist
