Democracy in full bloom in Andhra Pradesh

The political space in Andhra Pradesh is getting cluttered. Now, we will have one more addition - a political party being started by V V Lakshminarayana, who opted voluntary retirement from IPS. Lakshminarayana is very well known to the people of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Usually, no IPS officer becomes as popular as Lakshminarayana did. It was all because he handled a high-profile disproportionate assets case in which YS Jaganmohan Reddy has been listed as accused.

His popularity graph zoomed skyward on the night he formally arrested Jaganmohan Reddy in May 2012 at Dilkusha Guest House on Raj Bhavan Road in Hyderabad after three days of questioning. He was then sent to judicial remand to Chanchalguda prison where he stayed for 16 months till he got bail and came out.

After he came out of the IPS, he toured the State extensively studying the agriculture sector and interacted with students, trying to fathom their hearts as to how they visualised future India and the part they intended to play. For his part, he used to take part in motivational sessions with them. The students used to listen to him as he was like film hero going after baddies.

Ever since he came out of IPS, the air was thick with rumours that he would soon be forming a political party. He would always prevaricate questions from media persons on when he would be forming a political party. But now the stage is all set for him to announce the broad contours of his party.

The moment the word came out that Lakshminarayana was going to be active in public life, there was intense speculation that he would be part of the BJP and that he would be its Chief Minister's candidate for AP. Then there was speculation that he might join hands with the TDP but that too was proved to be wrong. Finally, it is becoming clear that he would chart his own political course by founding his own party.

The question that remains is what role Lakshminarayana would be playing in AP politics. He is yet to traverse caste and communal fault lines to create space for himself in the political spectrum in AP and it may not be easy. As he belongs to Kapu community, it is quite possible that Kapu youth which are rallying behind Pawan Kalyan now might find Lakshminarayana attractive. But how many youths would move towards him remains to be seen.

If Lakshminarayana is in the fray in the elections, he is sure to cut Kapu votes in central coastal AP but whose votes would he take away? After 2014 elections, it is presumed that Kapus had voted for Naidu since Pawan Kalyan was with him. Now the film actor has broken away from Naidu, taking most of his fans with him.

Now there are two more leaders – Jaganmohan Reddy and N Chandrababu Naidu – and Kapus seem to be moving away from the latter. It is believed that he might corner those who are still with Naidu as Kapus never trust the community Naidu represents.

But one thing is clear. The people in AP now have a wide choice – Chandrababu Naidu, YS Jaganmohan Reddy, Pawan Kalyan, Kanna Lakshminarayana and now VV Lakshminarayana. Democracy is in full bloom.