TDP never fielded at least one Brahmin in Assembly elections since 2014 in contrast to YSRCP which always had one or more

AMARAVATHI: In a state where politics are highly polarised on caste lines, Brahmins, who used be considered the erstwhile social influencers, have been ignored by major political parties in Andhra Pradesh.

The issue surfaced once again with the Telugu Desam Party-Jana Sena combine announcing party tickets on Saturday.

The TDP has never given ticket to even a single Brahmin candidate, despite their presence amounting to 0.83 among the state population.

The TDP did not give ticket to any Brahmin candidate in 2009, 2014, 2019 and 2024 (so far).

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N T Rama Rao used to traditionally accommodate Karanam Ramachandra Rao in his Cabinet and he used to win the seat consistently.

Ever since, Chandrababu Naidu took over the reins of the State, gradually the presence of Brahmins has been phased out from the TDP power dynamics and ecosystem.

In cotrast, YS Rajasekhara Reddy used to accommodate Brahmins in many positions. The likes of Undavalli Aruna Kumar, Dronamraju Srinivas, Malladi Vishnu, and many others had their role in the Congress politics. Vishnu was made the VGTM-UDA by Dr YSR.

After the advent of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy into Andhra Pradesh politics, he also never lagged behind. At least one Brahmin has always been accommodated in electoral politics.

In 2014, the YSRCP fielded Kona Raghupathi from Bapatla Assembly seat and was elected. He repeated the feat in 2019 and was elected as the Deputy Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Assembly.

The YSR Congress had fielded Malladi Vishnu and Dronamraju Srinivas also as MLA candidates from Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam respectively. While Vishnu won the seat, Dronamraju lost. However, he was made chairman of Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Development Authority.

Again, in 2024, the YSR Congress will be fielding Kona Raghupathi for sure, while Vishnu was denied the ticket. However, Malladi Vishnu pledged his loyalty to the party.

The TDP did not accommodate any one in the list of 94 Assembly seats, nor is it likely to filed anyone in the remaining seats even if the BJP enters alliance with the party.

The Jana Sena is very unlikely to field any one from among Brahmins either.

The caste composition among the candidates fielded by the TDP for the 2024 polls is as follows:

𝙏𝘿𝙋 𝙣𝙤. 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 - 94

𝙉𝙤 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙨 - 57

𝘾𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙛 𝙤𝙛 𝙏𝘿𝙋 - 23

𝙒𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣 - 13

𝙆𝙖𝙢𝙢𝙖 - 20

𝘽𝘾𝙨 -18

𝙎𝘾𝙨 - 20

𝙎𝙏𝙨 - 3

𝙆𝙖𝙥𝙪 - 7

𝙍𝙚𝙙𝙙𝙮 - 17

𝙑𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙖 - 1

𝙆𝙖𝙝𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙮𝙖 - 4

𝙑𝙮𝙨𝙮𝙖 - 2

𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮 - 1

𝘽𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙟𝙖 - 1

This clearly indicates the tilt of the TDP-JSP combine.

Ironically, Brahmins have traditionally been voting for the TDP, thanks to its alliance with the BJP.

Meanwhile, YS Jagan, who appointed five Deputy Chief Ministers drawn from different communities, is heavily banking on social engineering and is replacing powerful castes like Reddy and Kamma also to accommodate BCs and SCs.

Whether this reorganisation of candidates dominated by BCs will pay dividends will be known only after the election results.