Congress plays caste card in Andhra Pradesh

The Congress, faced with a ‘heads-you-win-tails-I-lose’ situation in Andhra Pradesh following the division of the state ahead of the general elections in April/May, has decided to play the caste and community card while constituting the state committees for the party in the two states in an effort to retain a foothold.

Ponnala Lakshmaiah, a senior Backward Classes leader from Telangana has been made the president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC), while N Raghuveera Reddy, also a BC leader from Rayalaseeema region, has been appointed as the chief of the party’s unit in the residuary Andhra state comprising coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions. Both were ministers in the Kiran Kumar Reddy cabinet.

Playing safe in Telangana, the Congress high command also named Uttam Kumar Reddy as the working president of TPCC to ensure that caste equations are balanced. Others appointments in Telangana include former deputy chief minister Damodar Raja Narasimha and Md Shabbir Ali as chairman and co-chairman respectively of the campaign committee, D Sridhar Babu and Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka as chairman and vice-chairman respectively of the manifesto committee.

In the case of Seemandhra, the high command appointed Union Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi, hailing from the influential Kapu community, as chairman of the campaign committee while former state minister Dokka Manikya Varaprasad was appointed chairman of the election committee. Former state finance minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy was named chairman of the manifesto committee of the Andhra Pradesh Congress.

Union Minister Jairam Ramesh had recently said that the Congress would appoint a dalit as chief minister of Telangana if the party came to power. But the High Command, which was apparently annoyed by the union minister’s statement, appointed a BC leader and a Reddy as joint chiefs of the Telangana unit.

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