Their restlessness, says literary and social commentator Sachidanandan Sarma, found expression in Kapu leader Miriyala Venkat Rao. “He formed a pressure group and met PMs and CMs to push for them 15 years ago. Kapu associations have been around for nearly three decades now, as they were looking for an identity and a place in politics. They were lost in the Reddy/Kamma race, even though these groups taken together, numerically, are less than the Kapus,” says Sarma.

This is where Chiranjeevi comes in. A Kapu from West Godavari district, he has been eagerly appropriated by the community, which is looking to see “one of their own get to the CM’s chair.”

While Chiranjeevi used eclectic symbolism — he launched his party on Mother Teresa’s birthday and has expressed his admiration for Bhimrao Ambedkar and Jyotiba Phule — he has now become associated with a caste formulation.

The Praja Rajyam Party, by not spelling out what it means by ‘samajik nyayam’ (social justice), has lost an opportunity to broadbase itself, but has achieved its objective of being interpreted as a vehicle to assert the Kapu identity. ‘Social justice’ is interpreted to mean political space for Kapus, who claim they comprise about one fifth of the state’s population. Varalakshmi, a homemaker in the Konaseema area, laughs, “Let us see what he will do. If he does not deliver, my children are there to take care of him”.

Now, with Kapus seeing a possibility in Praja Rajyam, other divides too seem to be getting sharper. For example, this Sunday, in the village of Godula in Amlapuram (a reserved parliamentary constituency), Dalits (seen as Congress voters) clashed with Kapus (thought to be Praja Rajyam supporters). Locals say this has been happening since January, with leaders adding fuel to the fire.

... contd.