Pawan Kalyan’s Kapu caste trouble in battleground Andhra Pradesh

Jana Sena Party (JSP) chief Pawan Kalyan seems to be battling a dilemma. Should he go it alone in the May 2024 assembly elections, or join hands with the bigger Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to prevent a split in the anti-Jagan Mohan Reddy votes in Andhra Pradesh?

The 51-year-old actor-turned-politician, who comes from the dominant Kapu caste of coastal Andhra region, is finding it a difficult choice.

Fighting the election alone makes Jana Sena vulnerable to be branded a Kapu party and the caste stigma will be bad for the Tollywood powerstar to grow enough to become the chief minister. On the other hand, aligning with TDP, a much bigger party, means he cannot lay claim for the CM post.

Watch: Is Pawan Kalyan Praising Mahesh Babu and Prabhas a political gimmick?

This tension is evident during his ‘Varahi Vijaya Yatra’ that began on June 14 even though it is drawing huge crowds. The Yatra, on a rath called Varahi, is meant to prepare his supporters for the next assembly election.

What is to be done?

Over the past 10 days, Pawan Kalyan has addressed half-a-dozen public meetings in East and West Godavari districts but failed to reveal his path. In a couple of meetings, he said his party would go it alone, and that he wanted to become the chief minister, while in other meetings he preferred a front of JSP-BJP-TDP to prevent a split in the anti-YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) votes.

His supporters, mostly Kapus from East and West Godavari, who have been shouting “CM Pawan, CM Pawan” since the launch of JSP in 2014, are not ready for the second option. They want Pawan to fight with CM Jagan head-on and defeat him.

Mutyam Nani, a former MPTC (Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency) member and an ardent Pawan supporter, said his lack of clarity on JSP’s stand vis-à-vis TDP was dampening the enthusiasm of his supporters. 

“Come what may, Pawan should project himself as chief ministerial candidate. He should not align with TDP,” Raju from East Godavari told The Federal.

Also read: Why Pawan Kalyan’s rath yatra is taking a Right turn in poll-bound Andhra

Pawan’s fear is that a triangular contest among YSRCP, TDP and JSP could benefit the ruling YSRCP led by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Bitter past

In 2019, after severing ties with TDP, Jana Sena contested alone and it was a disaster. The party ended up with just one seat and Pawan lost in both the seats he contested. Jagan won an absolute majority.  Pawan doesn’t want a repeat of 2019 in 2024. So, he is proposing a front of the JSP-TDP-BJP.

In line with this, he has chosen to cheer up Kapu YouTube by attacking Jagan repeatedly. He dared Jagan to stop his yatra if he could. He even asked his fans to ‘hit with chappals’ all those who accuse him of taking money from TDP. In every meeting he declared that he was ready to accept the post of chief minister, giving an impression that going it alone is not ruled out.

All Kapu MLAs from ruling YSRCP pounced on Pawan for his comments against Jagan, creating a major intra-caste tension for the actor. Indeed, Kapus are divided among YSRC, TDP, BJP and Jana Sena. YSRCP commands a majority among the 25 Kapu MLAs.

Jana Sena spokesperson Bolisetty Satayanarana accused the ruling YSRCP of creating rift in Kapu caste by provoking one against the other. Jagan seems to have been unsettled by the success of Varahi Yatra which clearly demonstrated that the Kapu caste is rallying behind Pawan. So, he is instigating the senior Kapu leaders to attack Pawan,” he said.

Kapus, others

Kapus claim numerical superiority over other castes. Attempts by Kapu leaders, including Pawan’s brother, ‘Megastar’ Chiranjeevi, in 2008, to come to power based on their numerical strength failed while the Reddys and Kammas with less than 6 per cent strength have become ruling parties.

Also read: Is Congress eyeing a bigger role for DK Shivakumar in poll-bound Telangana?

“Since there has been no caste census since 1921, there is no way to know the exact size of the Kapus population. If we club all sub castes like Balija, Ontari and Telaga, they do make a community larger than Reddys and Kammas,” said Chennuri Satish, associate professor at Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata.

Satish, who did his doctoral work on the political mobilisation of Kapus, said the caste, because of its dominant status, has antagonised all other castes in East and West Godavari, the reason for the failure of Kapu parties.

“BCs are against Kapus, SCs would never accept their dominance, and Kshatriyas maintain distance with them. On the other side, the ruling YSRCP, with enormous state resources at its disposal, is trying to control all lower castes with freebies. Pawan thinks a front with TDP and BJP is a safe bet, given the importance of 2014 election for the survival of JSP,” Satish told The Federal.