Krishnaiah To Quit TDP On Kapu Quota Issue?

For quite some time, prominent Backward Classes leader and Telugu Desam Party MLA from L B Nagar in Hyderabad R Krishnaiah has been threatening to quit the party to launch his own political outfit for the Backward Classes.

But he never did that because it is not easy to give up the MLA post and the benefits associated with it. So, he has been dodging the same on some pretext or the other. On the other hand, he even attended the TD Legislature Party meetings and even the meeting convened by party president N Chandrababu Naidu.

Now, it appears time has come for Krishnaiah to resign from the MLA post, as he is under tremendous pressure from his followers following the inclusion of Kapus into the OBC list and passage of the bill by the Andhra Pradesh assembly on Saturday.

The move triggered massive protests among the BC sections across Andhra Pradesh. Several BC groups organised demonstrations opposing inclusion of Kapus into the BC list. In Kakinada, the BC groups staged a demonstration in front of the district collector’s office and burnt the effigy of the chief minister. They blocked the traffic on the highway for a couple of hours by setting fire to vehicle tyres. At Tanuku and Eluru in West Godavari, too, the OBC agitators took out rallies and staged dharnas on the roads, disrupting the traffic.

Krishnaiah told media that Naidu had committed a blunder by including Kapus in the BC list. “Though Naidu says Kapus will get an additional five per cent quota within the BCs, they will grab all the opportunities because they were socially more advanced. We will oppose the decision tooth and nail,” he said.

He said he would take a decision on his future course of action after holding a meeting with all the BC groups in a day or two.