Is JP The Right Kamma Candidate?

Last week, AP CM Jagan Mohan Reddy was the Chief Guest for the Sixtieth Anniversary of APCOB. Former IAS Jaya Prakash Narayan was the MD of APCOB during crisis time, thirty-two years ago. So, he was invited as well.

Jagan Mohan Reddy was seen getting up from his seat and receiving JP warmly. JP also reciprocated nicely.

YSR Congress social media which always addresses JP as ‘JP Chowdary’ to malign him in the name of caste made the video viral saying that Jagan respects JP so much.

This rare scene gave rise to speculations that Jagan is contemplating bringing JP into YSR Congress.

Vijayawada Parliament is a tough seat to crack for YSR Congress due to Caste combinations. Kammas play a dominant role here. YSR Congress did not win this seat after its inception.

Even in Jagan’s wave in 2019, it has lost. It needs a strong Kamma candidate. JP will fit the bill perfectly. Also, he has the ability to bring some neutral votes with his image. So, the rumor mills say Jagan is being nice to JP.

The admirers of JP are distraught by this news because he is always an anti-corruption crusader.

JP is yet to respond to this report.

Meanwhile, there are doubts that JP will be the right Kamma candidate for Vijayawada.

In 2009, a significant section of Kammas rooted for JP when his Lok Satta party contested its first election. But after the election, Kammas realized that JP was just a vote-cutter who helped Congress.

2009 elections underlined the impact of vote-cutters like Chiranjeevi and JP. Since then, all the voters including Kammas were able to see through that intentions.

That is the reason why JP lost from Malkajgiri Parliament in 2014 after winning from Kukatpally in 2009.

We have seen the support base of Lok Satta erode after the 2009 elections and JP also slowly became irrelevant in politics except for some random YouTube Channel appearances. So, there is a feeling that JP’s candidature may not help much in Vijayawada.