Andhra Jyothy Telugu daily, owned by prominent Kamma media baron Vemuri Radhakrishna and is known for promoting Telugu Desam Party, also a Kamma dominated party, has had the respect of encouraging a progressive Brahmin – K Srinivas – as its editor.
Srinivas, a seasoned journalist, Leftist thinker and author, has been handling the editorial responsibilities of the daily with a lot of skill and intellect, thought the broader political line of the paper is being dictated by Radhakrishna.
It was because of Srinivas that the party has been churning out good stories with attractive headlines with due importance to literature, entertainment and national and international news.
Now, according to the latest information, Srinivas has recently put in his papers (or it is not immediately known whether he was asked to resign). He is expected to step down officially by October end, after the completion of certain legal formalities.
Starting November 1, Andhra Jyothy will have a new editor – N Rahul, who is presently the executive editor of the daily and is looking after central editorial desk.
Needless to say, Rahul is a Kamma and is a product of another Kamma-dominated Telugu daily Eenadu, founded by late Ch Ramoji Rao.
In fact, there is a talk in the media circles that Radhakrishna had brought Rahul into the editorial board months after the latter resigned from Eenadu on some personal issues, only because he is a Kamma.
There are several other deserving senior editorial team members in Andhra Jyothy, who has the capability to replace K Srinivas if the latter really wanted to step out of the daily owing to various reasons. Yet, they don’t have the qualification Rahul has – Kamma factor.
If Rahul takes charge as Andhra Jyothy editor, the Kamma domination in the media house will be complete – ABN Andhra Jyothy editor, bureau chiefs of the channel and the daily, network in-charges, bureau chiefs in Telangana and Andhra – all are from the same caste.
Maybe, there are a few other caste people in the daily, but they are confined to lower-rung positions without any powers. So, Andhra Jyothy’s transformation as Kamma outfit is complete!