The YSR Congress Party has demanded that Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan apologise to the Kapu community for allegedly making derogatory remarks against certain Kapu leaders.
Although YSRCP is seen as a party dominated by Reddys, a few party leaders belonging to the Kapu community slammed the Jana Sena chief for his comments, which they allege are against the Kapu community and its leaders.
They said the coalition government had no answers for custodial deaths, missing bodies, growing law and order failures, and other governance issues.
These comments were referring to the disappearance of a 25-year-old Kapu man named Gade Sai Krishna after allegedly being picked up by the Vijayawada police on May 9. His mother, Vijayalakshmi, has alleged that Sai Krishna was tortured to death in police custody.
Controversies around Sai Krishna’s death
Speaking at a public meeting in Kakinada on June 20, Pawan Kalyan responded to criticism over the incident from the opposition YSRCP and said, “We cannot remain calm if they use caste as they wish when it comes to law and order issues. I request you not to limit me to caste. If some criminal from [my] caste does something, what do you want me to do about it? Should I take responsibility for it?”
Pawan Kalyan also asked if he should defend someone accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, referring to a POCSO case in which Sai Krishna had previously been accused and later acquitted.
Krishnalanka Circle Inspector G Nagaraju, who has been accused of harassing Sai Krishna and has been charged with his murder, also belongs to the Kapu caste.
Pawan Kalyan also said at the meeting that YSRCP, despite not being in power, was trying to create a belief that rowdyism and criminality would rule the state. “I will stomp on each of these goondas and extract their flesh,” Pawan Kalyan said. He added that if anyone thinks that the party that will protect them even if they have committed crimes at a young age, that would not happen.
YSRCP Kapu leaders question ‘insult’
Addressing the media at the YSRCP office in Kakinada on June 22, Kapu leaders from YSRCP, including former ministers Kurasala Kannababu and Dadisetti Raja, former MP Vanga Geetha, along with YSRCP Assembly coordinators from the Kakinada Parliamentary constituency, said Pawan Kalyan had become a tool in Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s diversion politics and was being used to distract public attention from critical issues confronting the state.
They said insulting Kapu leaders such as Botsa Satyanarayana, Thota Trimurtulu, and Vanga Geetha amounted to insulting the entire Kapu community.
YSRCP leaders questioned why Kapus in their party were branded as rowdies while those in TDP and Jana Sena were portrayed as respectable figures. They alleged that Chandrababu Naidu had historically attempted to portray Kapu leaders, from Vangaveeti Ranga onwards, as anti-social elements and was now using Pawan Kalyan to weaken the community from within.
They also questioned Pawan Kalyan’s silence on unfulfilled promises made to Kapus, including Kapu reservations, the Kapu Nestham welfare scheme, and annual allocations to the Kapu Corporation.
In a recent interview, Pawan Kalyan had compared “excessive regionalism” with “casteism” and said, “People feel they can disrupt roads in the name of casteism. This happened in East Godavari district as well.”
While Pawan Kalyan did not explain further, the most recent instances of caste-based protests in the state are those led by Kapu groups, demanding reservation by blocking highways in Tuni town of the district. In May 2022, Kapu groups also protested against the naming of Konaseema district to ‘BR Ambedkar Konaseema’.
Pawan Kalyan is the most influential Kapu face in Andhra politics and had even supported the protests for Kapu reservation.
YSRCP leaders warned that they would not remain silent if personal attacks against YS Jagan Mohan Reddy continued and asserted that the party would continue fighting until justice was delivered to Kapus and all marginalised communities in Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, Jana Sena Party hit back at YSRCP leaders for targeting Pawan Kalyan.
Jana Sena MLA P Ramesh Babu told YSRCP leaders that they may get attention by attacking Pawan Kalyan, but if they invoked the Kapu community while doing so, the people would politically bury them.
He warned that voters had already taught YSRCP a lesson two years ago, and if they continued on the same path, they would cease to exist politically.
