Despite KCR fanfare, few takers for BRS in Andhra Pradesh

KCR is said to have tapped Cabinet colleagues Errabelli Dayakar Rao and Talasani Srinivas Yadav to develop the BRS in Andhra Pradesh.

BySNV Sudhir

Published Oct 05, 2022 | 9:29 PMUpdatedOct 05, 2022 | 9:33 PM

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in a meeting. (Supplied)

Even as the TRS reinvents itself as a national party by changing its name to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), there are few takers for it in Andhra Pradesh, at least for now.

In his efforts to gain support from the neighbouring state, TRS supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is said to have given the job to his Cabinet colleagues Errabelli Dayakar Rao and Talasani Srinivas Yadav.

KCR is also said to be planning to organise a huge public meeting in January, around Sankranthi, in Andhra Pradesh. The venue of the meeting could be the region around Vijayawada-Guntur, the heart of Andhra Pradesh.

Given the bifurcation of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, which is yet to finalise its state capital, and the latter still nursing its wounds, it would be interesting to see how the local citizenry would react to KCR’s BRS and his national ambitions.

KCR’s rabble-rousing speeches accusing Andhra settlers of looting the resources of the Telangana region and calling out “traitors” during the separate statehood movement between 2000 and 2014 had not gone down well with the general public in Andhra Pradesh.

After the state bifurcation and the TRS forming the government, KCR visited Andhra Pradesh a couple of times. He had visited Goddess Kanaka Durga temple once and also an ashram in Vizag.

KCR was also one of the special guests at YSRCP supremo YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s swearing-in as Andhra Pradesh chief minister in 2019.

In one of his speeches, KCR also said he had received requests from Andhra to start a political party in the state.

Caste matrix

The game plan of KCR is to initially rope in former Congress and TDP leaders who were once active in their respective parties and are now inactive in Andhra Pradesh politics.

While caste plays a dominant role in Andhra Pradesh politics, KCR’s idea is also to attract leaders from these two parties and also second-rung leaders from the Velama community, to which KCR belongs.

There is a sizeable number of Velamas in the Krishna district and parts of West Godavari. A sub-sect of Koppula Velamas is a strong community in north Andhra Pradesh, specifically in Srikakulam, where dominant political families Dharmana and Kinjarapu are from this community.

In Srikakulam, whichever party comes to power, members of either the Dharmana family or the Kinjarapu family find a place in the state Cabinet. In the N Chandrababu Naidu Cabinet that was in power before the current one, Kinjarapu Atchennaidu was the minister. Now, Dharmana Prasad Rao is a member of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s Cabinet.

Before the Cabinet reshuffle a few months ago, Dharmana Prasad Rao’s elder brother Dharmana Krishna Das was in Jagan’s cabinet. The TDP’s national face, former union minister Kinjarapu Yerram Naidu, is also from the Koppula Velama community. His son Ram Mohan Naidu is now a TDP MP from Srikakulam. Such is the clout of Koppula Velamas in Srikakulam.

They are also spread in the Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts, and decide the fate of the candidates in a few Assembly segments. Another member of Jagan’s cabinet, Budi Mutyala Naidu from the Visakhapatnam district is also from the Koppula Velama community, as does YSRCP MLA from Pendurthy A Adeep Raj.

In Visakhapatnam, Narsipatnam TDP strongman Chinthkalaya Ayyanapatrudu and senior leader Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy are also Koppula Velamas.

The current Eluru MP Kotagiri Sridhar of the YSRCP is also a Velama. Sridhar’s father, former minister late Kotagiri Vidyadhar Rao, and KCR were close pals.

Nudiziveedu’s three-time MLA Meka Venkata Pratap Appa Rao is also a Velama.

Interestingly, there were also claims that KCR’s ancestors have roots in Vizianagaram of north Andhra Pradesh.

Yadav and Errabelli old TDP horses

Both, Talasani Srinivas Yadav and Errabelli Dayakar Rao, like KCR, had their genesis in the TDP before joining the TRS. They both maintain cordial relations with many TDP leaders in Andhra Pradesh.

Even after the bifurcation, Talasani Srinivas Yadav used to frequent Andhra Pradesh, especially the Godavari region, to take part in Sankranthi festivities. He would take part in the hobby sport of rooster fights that are immensely popular in this region.

Coming from the Velama community, a dominant caste in the Krishna and West Godavari districts and north Andhra may come in handy for KCR’s ambitions in Andhra Pradesh.

TDP mum, YSRCP says not interested

The ruling YSRCP has taken the KCR’s national ambitions lightly. Jogi Ramesh, a minister in Jagan’s Cabinet, told a regional news channel that KCR’s national party would not have any impact in Andhra Pradesh.

YSRCP general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, a top aide of Chief Minister and YSRCP supremo YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, said that for them the YSRCP’s interests in Andhra Pradesh were of paramount importance and they were not part of any front at the national level. He added that Jagan has clarity of thought on it.

During his visit to Goddess Kanaka Durga temple in Vijaywada on Wednesday to offer special prayers on the occasion of Vijaya Dasami, TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu refused to comment on KCR’s BRS and his national-party ambitions.