Elections 2014: Parties bank on Kapus

Hyderabad: Can Kapus, the single largest community with 20 per cent of the total population, be kingmakers in the upcoming Assembly elections?
The general perception is that whichever party gets majority seats in East and West Godavari districts will come to power. And the party that gets the support of the Kapus will win majority seats in the Coastal districts.

However, both theories were disproved in the 2009 Assembly elections. After the Vangaveeti Ranga incident, the Kapu voters distanced themselves from the TDP.

Unlike Telangana, in the Coastal districts, caste is the major factor in the elections. The Kammas, with six per cent of the total population and Reddys, with 12 per cent, are together more powerful than the Kapus which is the largest caste in the state. And so far a Kapu leader has never become the chief minister in the state.

According to one survey, in the 2009 Assembly elections, the Praja Rajyam  (PR) headed by Chiranjeevi, who belongs to the same community, got 59 per cent of the Kapu votes, the Congress got 25 per cent and TDP got 12 per cent.

However, it is interesting to note that more Kapu MLAs won from the Congress party then the PRP. In 2009, Congress had given 14 tickets to Kapus, TDP gave eight and PRP, 37. Of them, a total of 33 Kapus won in the East and West Godavari districts and the Krishna district.

Kapu Nadu founder president Miryala Venkat Rao said that Kapu leaders were not allowed to grow politically. Kammas and the Reddys have always been dominating, though fewer in number.