KCR makes renewed bid to woo Khammam, an outlier in Telangana politics

Once the stronghold of communists, the undivided Khammam district has always been elusive to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). The sway of Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has continued over the district even after the formation of Telangana state.

Now, the TRS is desperate to hoist its flag in the district as Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), its new avatar, with the help of the Left parties in the face of attempts by TDP to re-emerge, and by YSR Telangana Party chief YS Sharmila to gain a foothold in Telangana politics.

Khammam, which shares a border with Andhra Pradesh, is an ideal territory for all to test their survival strategies in December this year, when Assembly elections are due. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will address a public meeting in Khammam town on January 18 to launch the BRS’s strategy.

Also read: With BJP in cross hairs, KCR gears up for a massive BRS rally in Khammam

Chief ministers from Kerala, Delhi, Punjab and former chief ministers from Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh are expected to be present at the event at which, according to BRS sources, five lakh people will gather.

KCR recalls “special bond” with district

KCR is hopeful that the people of Khammam will overwhelmingly participate in the meeting. Calling upon the people of the district to make the first public meeting of the BRS a big success, KCR recalled the special bond he shares with Khammam district. He said the people of Khammam had supported him “in the way the womb supports the foetus” when he was illegally arrested by the then Congress government in 2009 and lodged in Khammam jail.

KCR was referring to an incident in united Andhra Pradesh that rejuvenated the Telangana movement after the death of then chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy on September 2, 2009. Demanding the immediate formation of Telangana state, KCR announced a fast unto death from Siddipet town. But, interim chief minister K Rosaiah’s government wanted to thwart it, as the move had the potential to create a law-and-order problem for his new government.

KCR was taken into custody midway in Karimnagar district when he was proceeding to Siddipet. With great secrecy, and in high drama, he was shifted to Khammam to be produced before a magistrate, who remanded him in 14-day judicial custody.

Also read: KCR warns against ‘Taliban’ like forces attempting religious divisions

He was not brought back to Hyderabad, nor was he shifted to Karimnagar. According to a former police official who worked with Rosaiah’s government, the CM, who was just one month into office amid a lot of dissension in the party, did not want to invite any unnecessary trouble to his precarious leadership.

“The CM feared that bringing KCR back to Hyderabad would provoke the students of Osmania University, which was the hotbed of the Telangana agitation. Similarly, Karimnagar was the stronghold of TRS, where violent backlash was not ruled out. So, he was shifted to Khammam, where the T-movement was comparatively less severe, because the district is dominated by Andhra migrants,” said the official who did not want to be quoted.

KCR’s fast in jail gave a new lease of life to the T-movement, which ultimately led to the creation of Telangana in 2014. That’s how KCR’s detention in Khammam jail is remembered as a turning point in the statehood movement. Now, KCR wants the people of Khammam to recall the memories of his arrest and extend solidarity to his national venture.

Apologise first, says BJP

However, the BJP immediately shot back and demanded an apology from the chief minister before he enters Khammam on January 18. Telangana BJP vice-president NVSS Prabhakar Rao said the people and farmers of Khammam had not forgotten the ugly incident that happened on May 11, 2017.

He was referring to the arrest of angry chili farmers who vandalised the Khammam market yard in May 2017. The farmers were fighting for market intervention by the state government, as prices of chili had crashed. Cases were filed against many farmers and several were jailed. They were brought to court in a parade with handcuffs, which attracted widespread condemnation.

Also read: Why Bandi Sanjay Kumar is BJP’s answer to KCR’s clout in Telangana

“KCR should first tender an apology for his oppressive attitude towards Khammam farmers. The people and farmers of the district have not forgotten how he handcuffed and paraded the farmers in the streets just for opposing his anti-farmer policies,” Prabhakar Rao said in a press meet on Tuesday.

According to Prabhakar, a former MLA from Uppal (Hyderabad), KCR chose Khammam as the venue with the hope that Communists could help mobilise the people to his public meeting.

Meanwhile, former Congress MP from Khammam, Renuka Chowdhary, also pitched in, claiming ownership of Congress party over Khammam. Asking KCR not to delude about capturing Khammam, the former Union minister said the people of Khammam would not fall for his false claims, as the memories of humiliation the farmers suffered in 2017 were still afresh.

“There is no vacancy for BRS in Khammam. The Congress is going to win all 10 Assembly seats and two LS constituencies of undivided Khammam district,” Renuka, who represented the Khammam Lok Sabha seat twice, told the media.

What’s special about Khammam?

So, why is KCR invoking his arrest and brief stay in local jail 13 years ago to make his January 18 Khammam meeting a success?

Why does NVSS say that KCR is banking on the Communists to mobilise crowds for the first meeting of BRS?

What is Renuka Chowdary claiming Congress’ ownership over the district?

The answer is that Khammam is an outlier in Telangana politics.

Khammam has undergone demographic transformation due to the migration of people in large numbers from Krishna and Guntur districts of Andhra Pradesh. The process began in the 1920s when the Nizam government invited cultivators from these districts to take up farming in the princely state.

Also read: How YS Sharmila has emerged as a serious player in Telangana politics

Among the migrants, Kammas are conspicuous by their overwhelming presence in the irrigated zones of the district of Khammam, Nizamabad, Warangal, and Nalgonda districts.

According to historian and author of History of Telangana, Prof. Adapa Satyanarayana, the hard-working and dynamic migrant farmers soon prospered and accumulated wealth in the irrigated zones of Nizam.

Tracing the evolution of Kammas from a small peasant community to the present level of strong political community, Prof. Satyanarayana said the Kamma rural rich could successfully diversify its accumulated surplus into the business world.

“Strong kinship network and connections facilitated their entrenchment in areas as diverse as commercial farming, agro-industries, real estate, finance, infrastructure, etc. The spectacular progress they made converted the Kamma caste into a ‘dominant caste’ in the sense of a phrase coined by sociologist MN Srinivas. Once a caste becomes a dominant caste, with its economic social capital, it starts controlling politics as well. The emergence of TDP has helped the caste coalesce into a political community,” Prof. Satyanarayana, former faculty member at Osmania University, told The Federal.

The Kamma factor

In the past seven Lok Sabha elections, the Khammam seat, barring once in 2014, has always been cornered by Kammas, irrespective of the party the candidate comes from.

In 1996 CPM’s T Veerabhadram won from Khammam with the support of TDP. In 1998, former CM Nadendla Bhaskar won as Congress candidate while Renuka Chowdhary represented the constituency in the thirteenth and fourteenth Lok Sabha, also as the Congress nominee.

However, in 2009, Kamma industrialist Nama Nageswar Rao of TDP won from Khammam. But, in 2014, after a long hiatus, non-Kamma YSRCP candidate Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy emerged victorious. However, in 2019, Nama wrested the seat defeating fellow Kamma leader Renuka Chowdary contesting this time as the candidate of TRS (now BRS).

Katragadda Prasuna, a former MLA and prominent migrant woman leader, says migrants from Andhra Pradesh constitute about 15 per cent of the total 2.99 crore voters in Telangana. “The Rayalaseema and Andhra migrants can influence the electoral outcome in more than 40 constituencies in Telangana. Khammam is one of the strongholds of migrants who are especially from Krishna and Guntur districts,” she said.

“Not a random choice”

True to its demography, Khammam district has proved impregnable for TRS despite its landslide victory in other districts. In 2014, while the Lok Sabha seat was won by YSR Congress, the Congress and TDP bagged four and two Assembly segments respectively. TRS could win one only.

Also read: TRS is now Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) officially; KCR unfurls party flag

In 2018, too, TRS was decimated by Prajakutami of Congress-TDP-CPI-TJS, which won eight out of 10 Assembly seats. The lone TRS member, Puvvada Ajay, who won from Khammam Assembly segment, was also a Kamma and comes from a migrant family. While TDP won two seats, the Congress bagged six. One went to an independent candidate. It is a different matter that many of them defected to TRS later.

Senior journalist Koride Mahesh believes Khammam as the venue for BRS’s first public meeting is not a random choice but a well-thought-out option. “BRS has to mobilize an impressive crowd, as many chief ministers and former chief ministers are attending the meeting. Mobilising the public is easier in Khammam, as the Left parties still have a modicum of base in the district. As for TRS, there is a need to nip the TDP and Sharmila in the bud itself. Due to all these factors, Khammam is going to present a curious show of strength in the 2023 Assembly elections,” Koride remarked.