Caste war is raging in Bharatiya Janata Party of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. If sources are to be believed the delay in the appointment of president of state committees of Telugu states is attributed to the bitter cold war between the competing castes and inability of the central leadership to strike a compromise.
In Andhra pradesh while Kapus are struggling hard to snatch the post from Kammas, the Kammas are moving heaven and earth to retain the leadership position. In Telangana, the Yandla Lakshminarayana, former MLA from Nizambad, wants a BC be appointed for the post as the incumbent president is a upper caster man, G Kishan Reddy. Ranged against him is N Ramachandra Rao, an upper caste MLC. He is said to be using his caste connection in BJP. Yandla is a Munnuru Kapu.
As For Andhra, the argument is that in the present set up the dividing line between the BJP and TDP has disappeared which is stunting the growth of BJP as the independent organization. So, a section, especially, Kapus leaders, want a change of guard at state level. This section is promoting Somu Virraju for the post of state president. The rival section, according to sources, is backed by union minister Venkaiah Naidu, who doesn’t want the present friendly arrangement between BJP and TDP under the leadership of K Haribabu, Vizag MP, to be disturbed.
While Venkaiah Naidu’s group is for continuing Haribabu as state president, the other group wants Somu Virraju as the new leader in the state. This, they say, would help win over a huge caste group into the party fold. Though there are no confirmation, media reports say party president Amit Shah is said to have zeroed in on Virraju. If this is true, Naidu might be losing his grip in Delhi at the fag end of the Rajya Sabha tenure. A Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, Naidu is retiring in June and the Upper House Sabha had already bid him farewell.
