Veteran Shashidhar Reddy's exit signals Telangana Congress' declining fortunes

Veteran Telangana Congress leader Dr Marri Shashidhar Reddy is all set to join the BJP. He met Union home minister Amit Shah on November 18 along with state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar and party national vice-president DK Aruna. Taken aback by the development, the Congress reacted quickly and expelled him for six years. With Shashidhar Reddy’s exit, Congress will lose another old-timer and a loyal member whose association with the grand old party goes back to the 1950s.

Shashidhar Reddy (73) is the younger son of Dr Marri Chenna Reddy, Congress stalwart of yesteryears, who had been Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh twice. A former minister, Shashidhar Reddy also served as the vice-chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority during the UPA regime.

His father, Dr Chenna Reddy was one of the most influential leaders of his time, who had  shaped the politics of the state during his active days in the party. Despite the love-hate relationship with the party, Shashidhar Reddy’s family managed to sail with the party through thick and thin.

He had represented Hyderabad’s Sanath Nagar constituency four times and became a minister as well. Now, the same Shashidhar Reddy claimed the Congress has developed cancer and lost the ability to win the elections. Sources close to Reddy said he will be joining the BJP in a week. Like many of his party colleagues, he had lost in the elections held after the creation of Telangana. In 2018, he was denied a Congress ticket.

Also read: TRS MLAs’ poaching case: Legislators complain of receiving threat calls

The restive Reddys and their exodus from Congress

Marri’s family is not alone in dumping the Congress; all the Reddy families, which once owned the party and served as addresses of the Congress, are leaving the party. With Congress losing two elections, they are unable to cope without power. They are also finding it difficult to promote their younger kith and kin in the Congress, which has lost its lustre. They have no option but to join either the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) or the BJP which has emerged as the alternative to TRS.

The Reddys have been extremely restive in the Telugu states ever since the united Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated in 2014. They lost power in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the 2014 election. It was a painful and humiliating development for a caste that turned the state into what political scientist Dagmer Bernstoff called ‘Reddy Raj’.

Barring the time under the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) regime, the Reddys had primarily ruled from the time the state of Andhra Pradesh was formed by merging Andhra and Hyderabad states in 1956 until 2014, when the state was bifurcated. The Reddys’ hold in politics stretched from Hyderabad to gram panchayats. No family from any other caste was allowed to compete with these families for power. All the non-Reddy CMs the state had was only a stop-gap arrangement.

Emergence of the powerful Reddys in Andhra

Prof E Venkateshu of University of Hyderabad told The Federal that the emergence of Reddys in Andhra Pradesh as a ruling caste was part of a national phenomenon. “After Independence, across the nation, all dominant agriculture castes such as Jats, Marathas, Lingayats, Vokkaligas rose to political prominence and captured power. In Andhra Pradesh, Reddy’s (who belongs to the Kapu caste) monopolised political power,” he pointed out.

Numerically, Reddys have always enjoyed a pre-eminent position in the Assemblies of united Andhra then and in Telangana now. The strength of Reddys in the united Andhra Assembly in 1983 stood at 34. With 44 MLAs in 2004, the YSR period was the golden era for the Reddys. In 1985, the Reddys commanded a strength of 35 in the Assembly, 40 in 1980, 35 in 1994, 40 in 2009, and 42 in 2014.

“Their stranglehold on state politics was so firm that even the late Mrs Indira Gandhi could not succeed in weakening the caste’s grip over politics,” said Prof Venkateshu.

Also read: Can Bharat Jodo Yatra revive Telangana Congress? That’s not on Rahul’s agenda

According to the professor, Mrs Gandhi’s efforts to promote PV Narasimha Rao to counter the Reddys failed in the early 1970s. “Any attempt to restructure the state party leadership to reduce the reliance on the Reddys met with violent agitations. One agitation even led to President’s rule in the state in 1973. Such a dominant force is in tatters after the formation of Telangana. How can such a caste with enough muscle and money power remain silent without power?” he asked.

While regaining power in Telangana remains a pie in the sky for the Reddys, in Andhra Pradesh, the Reddys managed to return to power in 2019 when YS Jaganmohan Reddy formed the government defeating Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP.

BJP a better bet than family-controlled TRS

Now, as many as 40 Reddys have got elected to Telangana Assembly in 2018. Though numerically it looks like a single-largest caste in the Assembly, politically speaking, the number has no meaning at all because they are controlled by a regional party that runs the state like a dynasty.

And, Chief Minister KCR, who is aware of the trouble-making capacity of Reddys when out of power, has successfully pacified a section of Reddys  by liberally offering them berths in the cabinet as well as other positions in the government.

Also read: Bharat Jodo Yatra, a success till now; can Cong build on it for 2024 poll?

However, a section of the Reddys, mostly from Congress, realise they may never capture power in the state if they joined the TRS, a family controlled party. For them, BJP looks like a right platform to aim for the CM’s post, as happened in the case of Himanta Biswa Sarma, a former Congress leader, in Assam.

Reddy families leave the Congress fold, one by one

The first influential, powerful family to jettison the Congress in favour of the BJP was that of DK Aruna.

Aruna, a firebrand leader from a Dharmavaram Kottala (DK) family, which had a long association with the party, is a chief ministerial aspirant.

The next to join the BJP was Komati Reddy. Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy quit not only Congress but also the Assembly to join the BJP. But, he lost in the Munugodu bypoll after giving a tough fight to the TRS. His, brother, K Venkata Reddy, a suspended Congress MP, is also expected to join the BJP Soon.

Now, Marri’s family is waiting for an auspicious time to join the saffron party. The fact that he had allowed his son Marri Aditya Reddy, TPCC secretary, to join Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) in 2018, floated by Prof Kodandaram, shows that Marri Sashidhar Reddy doesn’t like to associate with TRS and KCR. But, the TJS failed miserably in the 2018 elections. So, the next option for Marri is the BJP.

“I have not resigned from the Congress yet. Very soon, I will send the resignation letter to the party president explaining the reasons for my decision,” Reddy told the media after his expulsion and his meeting with BJP leader Amit Shah.

Curiously, he is a member of Congress Loyalists Forum (CLF), which consists of surviving seniormost members of the party. Earlier, it was the same Reddy who said that as a patriot, he would never dream of joining a party which praises Nathuram Godse, the killer of Mahatma Gandhi.

Other Congress leaders are not taking his resignation lightly. G Niranajan, TPCC senior vice-president and CLF member told The Federal, “It’s a shocking decision and the party should immediately step in and persuade Shashidhar Reddy not to quit the Congress.”

Moreover, Niranjan pointed out that Shashidhar Reddy has not resigned yet. “We have sent representations from the party to stop him from leaving the Congress. He should not be grouped with others who left the party. His credentials are impeccable. At a time when the party is passing through a crisis, Shashidhar Reddy’s resignation will be an irreparable loss,” said Niranjan. Undeniably, one more powerhouse politician’s exit seems to speak volumes of the declining fortunes of the Telangana Congress.