LEANING OVER BACKWARDS

It's been seven decades since the first elections were held in India, but caste arithmetic still remains integral to this democratic exercise.

- By Amarnath K. Menon

So, when Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy addressed the ruling YSR Congress's Jayaho BC Mahasabha’ in Vijayawada on December 7, it was the same backward classes math that was decidedly on his mind.

In February 2019, just ahead of the last assembly election, Jagan—vying to dethrone then CM and Telugu Desam Party TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu—had tried to woo the Other Backward Classes OBCs) in the state with a slew of promises in his party’s BC Declaration unveiled at Eluru. Now, with the next state poll due in 2024— coinciding with the general election— Jagan shared his government’s report card’ at the well-attended outreach programme in Vijayawada, spelling out the promises fulfilled so far and reaffirming his commitment to social justice.