Congress' Corruption Mark Vs TDP's 'Kamma Mark'

Whenever there is a political party that is formed, it has always been labeled with one mark that can actually turn against its favor in crucial times. So when it comes to the political scenario in Andhra Pradesh, the two major parties that we are talking about is the Congress party and the Telugu Desam Party. Each of them have got their own dark marks and while the Congress has been known for its exorbitant and deep rooted levels of corruption, the TDP is being labeled as a rather caste oriented party or a ‘Kamma’ favoring party.

While the debate has been on for a long time, even this time it is being said that though the Congress has got embroiled in tales of controversies and corruption related issues, they were able to retain power since they came up with some good initiatives. On the other hand, the TDP folks say that there is nothing special about it and they have lost out by just one percent of votes and these belonged to their own community folks. Some of the senior members of the TDP have stated that they were banking on their Kamma vote banks but due to the presence of parties like Lok Satta headed by JP who is also a Kamma, their votes got split and went into a negative account.

They also said that due to the seat sharing basis, some of the noted Kamma contenders were not given a chance and this led to an anti-feeling among the Kamma community heads that resulted in the loss to the party. While this has been their version, the experts say that more than the ‘Kamma’ factor, it is the inability of the Mahakootami to actually drive across their political agendas clearly to the voters and at the same time convince them about their coalition. With an unpredictable KCR around, it was a bit difficult for the voters to see a Mahakootami government standing for long. Despite all these practical hiccups, it is sad to see the Telugu Desam folks still clinging on to the ‘Kamma’ slogan.

It is about time they realize that caste and community feeling does not really work anymore. Perhaps, the example of Chiranjeevi serves as the best one in this context for the TDP folks. At the same time, Congress also must ensure that they wipe away the mark of ‘Corruption’ from their list and if they manage to come out of that, then it is without doubt that they can emerge as a long standing reliable party for the Telugu people.