Reddys role in Politics

This entry was posted on December 27, 2006 3:03 PM and is filed under Reddy Community.

Historically, Reddys dominated the politics of the south India and are the most powerful caste in wealth and are highly educated. Interestingly, the sixth President of India, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy and some of the chief ministers of the State of Andhra Pradesh and many Notable Reddy personalities come from Middle class and very poor families . Dr. Bejawada Gopalareddy served as the chief minister of Andhra State from March, 1955 to October, 1956. Ten of the twenty[3] elected Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh including the present chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Dr. Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy are from the Reddy community. Sixth President of India, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy who was in office from 1977 to 1982 is also from the Reddy community. Even though the population of Reddys is 11% in the state of Andhra Pradesh they occupy 40% of the state legislative assembly seats (MLA) and had played a vital role in the social and economic development of the state of Andhra Pradesh. Situation is changing from the last ten years because of the rise of reservations at every level and more and more people are opposing the reddy dominations. If the same trend continues it is very hard to have many reddy politicicians in the coming days. The community is very devided bacuse of the many sub castes and even religions. for example out of the Five chief ministers of Andhra pradesh four belonged to Christian religion and they are YSR, Janardhan Reddy and Kasu brahmananda reddy .Chenna reddy belonged to the kapu community and Anjaiah belonged to the Gone sub caste.Neelam Sanjiva reddy bolonged to pakanati.Motati and Gudati are yet become chief misisters though they are more popular compared to others as they always fight with the other.

Reddys have played a significant role in Andhra politics and a vital role in the social and economic development of the state. They were one of the first non-Brahmin communities to actively participate in the new democracy. The population of Reddys is 6% to 7% in Andhra Pradesh but at one time they occupied up to 40% of the state legislative assembly seats (MLA). Out of the five Reddy chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, one was of the Gudati sub-caste (Chenna Reddy), and one was of the Gone sub-caste (Anjaiah Reddy). Neelam Sanjiva Reddy belonged to Pakanati group. Sanjeeva Reddy wrote his caste as Kapu reddy. The term Reddy comes from "Redu" which is a village term (Vikruthi) of "Raju" means King in telugu.

Their percentage of seats occupied has been decreasing because of the many sub-castes and varying religious affiliations that divides the Reddy community and because more and more communities as getting involved because of reservations.

In AP Indira Gandhi succeeded in removing the dominant leader (Kasu Brahmaananda Reddy, of the Reddy caste) and replaced him with Narasimha Rao, a Brahmin compromise candidate with no independent electoral base (Srinivasulu 1999). Rao sought to strengthen his position by forming an alliance outside of the Reddy and Kamma groups (Reddy 1990; Vakil 1990). This strategy received the high command's support in the larger, national game of securing Indira Gandhi's dominance by sidelining the dominant castes trying to destabilize her (represented, for instance, by the Syndicate, of which the Reddy leader Sanjeeva Reddy was a part).

For instance, Bernstor (1973) wrote an article entitled “The Eclipse of Reddy Raj?”. Randa (1972) notes that 60% of Congress tickets in the 1972 state elections were given to women, backward classes, SCs, STs, youth, and labor, and a third of the sitting members of the Andhra Assembly were retired. In Rao's 26-member ministry, there were only 9 dominant castes (Brahmins, Reddys, and Kammas).

Srinivasulu (1999) writes: “In pursuit of his political survival in the political context dominated by the Reddy, Kamma castes , Rao sought to forge a social bloc consisting of backward castes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and minorities by giving them political berths in the Cabinet, greater representation to this bloc, and reducing the Reddy preponderance in the 1972 assembly election. Corresponding to this, measures like the AP Land Ceiling Act of 1972 and the launching of anti-poverty programs, more than their reactive implementation played a catalytic role in furthering the social polarization within the Congress. While on the one hand it led to the closing up of ranks among the landed gentry, it contributed in a significant way to the rise of awareness among the backward communities on the other.”