Kapu community says no to 'Chandranna' samkshema bhavan

Vijayawada: The naming of government-sponsored community welfare halls has kicked off yet another caste row. It may be recalled that former minister Mudragada Padmanabham from East Godavari district has been at the forefront of an agitation for a long time, demanding that Kapus be included in the list of backward castes.
The Kapu Welfare and Development Corporation has issued a GO enabling five Kapu samkshema bhavans proposed to be built at different places across the state to carry the tag of 'Chandranna'.The government also released another order attaching the name of chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu to eight welfare schemes including Chandranna Kapu Nidhi and Chandranna Kapu Bhavan. The government has even decided to reach out to the donors from the Kapu community for contributions to build the samkshema bhavans.
The move to build one of the bhavans in Guntur sparked a furore from the Kapus who reportedly want welfare schemes meant for them to bear the name of their own veterans and not someone from other castes. Naidu belongs to the Kamma community.
Senior Congress leader Lingamsetti Eswara Rao urged the government to consider the name of Kanneganti Hanumanth, a freedom fighter from the Palnadu region of Guntur district, for the Kapu Samkshema Bhavan. Two film stars of yesteryears namely SV Ranga Rao and Savitri may be considered too, he said.
Andhra Pradesh Kapu Nadu president Kathari Appa Rao said there is no dearth of public figures from his community and that it was nothing but belittling them if the Kapu welfare schemes carry the name of outsiders. In the midst of the boiling caste row over the naming of welfare schemes, the CM laid a foundation stone for a Kapu Samkshema Bhavan at Kakinada recently.
What is viewed as adding salt to the wounds of Kapus is the government's proposal to name a police bhavan to be built in the city after an IPS officer (late) KS Vyas. During his stint as Vijayawada urban SP in the mid-1980s, Vyas allegedly targeted Kapu leader and Congress legislator Vangaveeti Mohan Ranga Rao.
The clash between the police officer and the MLA resembled a turf war in those days. Appa Rao accused Vyas of having disarmed Ranga, seeking protection from his rivals. This eventually led to his cold blooded murder. "The one who adores Vyas cannot be close to the hearts of Kapus," Rao stated.
Galla Subramanayam, another Kapu Nadu leader from the city, sought to know why the government did not intend to add the Chandranna tag to a 'Brahmana Samkshema Bhavan' proposed to be built in the city. In fact, it will be named after 'Parasuram' who is considered to be sixth Avatharam of Lord Vishnu and one of the Sapta Rishis. "Why this discrimination between Kapus and Brahmins?" fumed Subramanyam.
The TDP government, which is identified with the prosperous and enterprising Khammas, seems going the whole hog to bridge the prevailing caste divide with a slew of welfare measures which include according BC status and formation of Kapu Welfare and Development Corporation.
Naidu's efforts to build bridges by identifying himself with the schemes his government coined for the welfare of Kapus appears to have backfired if the adverse reactions from the community are any indication. "Kapus will never own up Chandrababu. But for him, Ranga would not have had been murdered," Appa Rao rued.