Andhra Pradesh's move to provide 5 per cent reservation for the Kapus by creating a separate 'F' category among the list of backward classes has come in with mixed reaction.

Following the move, those belonging to the Kapus —Telaga, Balija and Ontari community — will be classified under 'F' category for jobs and in various educational institutions. There was no place for political reservation in the Bill.

While the agrarian community of Kapus, who have been demanding reservation for more than two decades, have welcomed the move, some activists from other backward classes protested expressing their concerns as this would cut into their prospects.

The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly has passed the AP Kapu Reservation (of Seats in Educational Institutions and Appointments or Posts in Services Under the State) Bill on Saturday, the last day of the winter Session of the Assembly.

Following the much awaited development, the Bill will be sent to the Governor ESL Narasimhan to refer it to the Central government for its inclusion in the Schedule IX of the Constitution. The inclusion comes as the total reservation cap of 50 per cent has now reached 55 per cent for various backward classes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

The State Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, approved the long-pending demand to provide 5 per cent reservation for Kapus which was also an election promise. After the draft bill was approved in the Cabinet, it was moved in the Assembly and then passed.

Mudragada Padmanabham, a senior Kapu leader who had been spearheading an agitation for reservations for the Kapus, while expressing his gratitude for the passage of the bill, said the real celebration would be after the Bill secures Constitutional status.

Beginnings of the Kapu cause

During 2009 elections, Tollywood star K Chiranjeevi, who formed Praja Rajyam Party in 2008, contested elections taking up the cause of the Kapus. However, he could not make big impact on the elections. Later, he merged his party with the Congress.

While the Naidu government had constituted the Manjunath Commission to study the issues relating to demand for reservation by the Kapus, which recommended the government to provide 4-5 per cent reservation, the Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham had been spearheading an agitation.