Uproar in Andhra Assembly over Kapu Reservation, Jagan Accuses TDP Chief Naidu of Cheating Community

Amaravathi: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday accused Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu of going back on his promise of providing reservation to the Kapu community.

In the assembly session on Tuesday, there was an uproar as the ruling YSR Congress and the opposition TDP engaged in a heated debate over the proposal to provide 5% reservations to the Kapu community in the state. During the debate, Reddy described Naidu as a “cheater and cinematic villain” for not keep his promise. Jagan also reminded the former chief minister that his government has allocated Rs 2,000 crore to the community.

Reservations in education and employment was the community’s long-standing demand in Andhra Pradesh. The Congress, both in 2009 and in 2014, had also agreed to this demand in their election manifesto. In 2014, Naidu also promised 5% reservation to the community under the OBC category.

In order to implement this promise, the previous TDP government had formed a commission headed by Justice Manjunadha to examine the position of the backward classes. But the Manjunadha Commission couldn’t establish the need to provide reservation to the community.

However, after pressure from the TDP government, the members of the commission submitted another report after Justice Manjunadha resigned. The state government had approved the report in the legislative assembly and had sent it to the Centre for approval, which had rejected the assembly resolution on reservations.

The Naidu government afterward took advantage of the 10% EBC quota, earlier announced by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, to allocate 5% of this to the Kapus.