VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is concentrating on Godavari districts, bastions of the Kapu community, to win the 34 constituencies which forms a deciding factor in assembly elections.
The Jana Sena, Telugu Desam and the BJP are also trying to woo Kapus in the Godavari districts. Hence these assembly seats become crucial to the YSRC and Jagan Mohan Reddy to ensure their continuation of governance after the 2024 polls.
The Kapu community, a predominantly agrarian caste, constitutes around 15 per cent of AP population and can tilt political balance one or the other way if they vote unitedly. Cine hero K. Chiranjeevi and his brother Pawan Kalyan belong to this community and they have launched the Praja Rajyam and the Jana Sena.
The Praja Rajyam was dissolved later. Now, the Jana Sena is trying to win the 2024 elections with poll alliances after facing a humiliating defeat in the 2019 polls.
A group of Kapu leaders along with some prominent leaders of the Telugu Desam, Jana Sena and other political parties formed the Kapunadu reorganisation and are holding a public meeting in Vizag on Dec 26, marking the 34th death anniversary of Vangaveeti Mohana Ranga.
The public meeting would be held on the AS Raja Grounds in MVP Colony in Vizag. Leaders led by TD MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao are trying to bring Pawan Kalyan to the meeting to whip up the mood of the Kapus against the YSRC in the next elections.
The ruling YSRC, which bagged 29 seats in the two Godavari districts in 2019 with the support from Kapus started the efforts to woo Kapus. The ruling party would organise a meeting of Kapus of the coastal and north Andhra districts a day before, on December 25.
Recently, Jagan Mohan Reddy , TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan conducted their tours of Godavari districts. Jagan Mohan Reddy and Pawan Kalyan held programmes in north Andhra. Naidu embarked on a three-day tour under ‘Idemi Karma Mana Rashtraniki’ in north Andhra from Thursday.
According to sources, Jagan Mohan Reddy aims to win all the 34 seats in both Godavari districts in the next election. The ministers and MLAs of the YSRC are moving as per instructions from the Chief Minister. Jagan Mohan Reddy would soon conduct a meeting with Kapu leaders of Godavari districts and north Andhra regions.
He would discuss the issue of awakening the Kapus and prepare a road map for the poll success, with some new elements including reservations to Kapus to be introduced to his agenda soon. Sources said the 34 constituencies in both Godavari districts have become crucial for the YSRC in the next elections as new alliances are likely to change the overall outcome. Both Jagan Mohan Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu are sharply focusing on these constituencies.
YSRC leaders were in touch with Kapu leaders to draw strategies towards a
polarization of Kapu votes in favour of the ruling party amidst serious efforts by all sides to get the backing of Kapus.
Political analysts say political equations are changing rapidly in the Godavari districts for the past two elections as the TD made a clean sweep of this region in the 2014 elections and the YSRC in the 2019 polls. They said caste is going to play an important role in the 2024 elections.
This time, the Kapu community would be the deciding factor in the 34 crucial seats hence all are concentrating on these seats.
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