Andhra Pradesh - Rajahmundry   

Of goli soda and caste in Konaseema region

For a ‘change’: Supporters of Praja Rajyam having goli soda after campaign in sweltering heat conditions in Kotapeta constituency of East Godavari district.

RAJAHMUNDRY: Campaigning in the energy-sapping heat in Konaseema region needs frequent replenishments of ‘goli soda’, a one-rupee carbonated water that is typical of the coastal Andhra culture. Equally essential for political survival in this election season is to know and exploit the voters’ caste.

This is precisely what the three main players in the power game are doing. Voters in this prosperous delta region of East Godavari district are so polarised along caste lines that it is not hazardous to guess which party they will support, provided their caste is known. Politically incorrect though it may sound, this is the harsh reality.

A majority of voters interviewed during a tour of Konaseema region on April 20 and 21 made no bones about revealing their political loyalties and their caste. Everyone seems convinced that a majority of Kapu voters will plump for the PR, the Scheduled Castes for the Congress and the Backward Classes for the TDP. It is only the division of votes among these castes plus the votes of other castes that will decide the result, they say.

In this scenario, the Praja Rajyam stands to gain since the Kapus, OCs as they are referred here, are not only powerful but also large in number. “Change”, says Venkateswara Rao, a sand contractor sitting in a thatched hut on the Godavari’s bank in Allavaram Mandal, “is what people want after nine years of Chandrababu Naidu and five years of Rajasekhara Reddy as Chief Minister.”

Coupled with the caste equation and this yearning for change, the Praja Rajyam is tipped to win a majority of the seats in East Godavari district, leaving the Congress and the TDP to fight it out for the remaining seats. The migration of Kapus to the Praja Rajyam is expected to hurt both the Congress and the TDP as the community had backed the Telugu before 2004 and the Congress after that.

Konaseema, more particularly the area around Amalapuram, is a caste tinderbox where people in some villages are on an edge. An incident of stone-pelting on a festival procession by SCs on Sankranti this year and attack on Kapus by SCs in Gudala village on April 19 turned the Kapus and other castes against the Congress.

In this caste cauldron, issues like anti-incumbency, freebies offered by different parties and allegations of corruption against the YSR Government take a back seat. Women are, however, sore at the recent spurt in the prices of rice, tur dal, edible oil and sugar, which has sent them on a complaining spree against the Congress.

The Andhra-Telangana differences, sought to be raked up by the Chief Minister, have not made any impression on the voters.

The Telugu Desam’s cash transfer too has not set the Godavari on fire. Even die-hard Chiranjeevi fans do not attach much importance to the Rs.100 package of kitchen articles promised by him as their burning desire is only to see him as Chief Minister. Youth have shifted their loyalties to Chiranjeevi and are openly reproached by their parents who pride themselves for being ‘stable voters’ without changing like a weathercock.

Wealth is visible in East Godavari district as big agriculturists and Gulf returnees have built posh houses even in places faraway from towns. Prosperity has brought political awareness and there is no dearth of instant political analysts who can give a run-down of the voters’ caste composition and the way in which the political winds are blowing. They all concur that caste divisions, never so sharp, can only get worse in future.

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