Legendary Rivalry

The Velamas are considered traditional enemies of Reddys. Both the groups got along fine as feudatories of the Kakatiyas but to gain prominence in the royal court the professional rivalry went to the extremes:
The Padmanayakas were favorites of the King. Commander Bobba/Bhoji Reddy decided to show the King who exactly were the valorous fighters. He decided to wait till the Velama contingent got mauled by the Muslim army and then jump in to save the Velamas as well as the King. Unfortunately his timing was not good and both got beaten leading to the downfall of Kakatiya empire. Ever since, the Velamas blamed the Reddys for the historical blunder and continuously waged battles against Reddy kings. Later they managed to found independent states of Rajakonda and Devarakonda.
On the other hand, Reddys accuse the Velamas of colluding with alien Bahamanis to keep their state intact and indulge in attacking the Reddy kingdoms at every given opportunity. The Velamas say if not for Reddy cleverness and opportunistic attitude during the battle with Delhi Sultan's army, Kakatiya empire would have been intact at least till the British colonial period.
After the defeat of Prataparudra, Andhra Pradesh and Hindu religion succumbed to bad times. Annaya Mantri and Kolanu Rudradeva tried to unify the remaining Nayaka Chieftains belonging to various communities such as Velama, Reddy, Kamma, Balija and Telaga communities and appointed a Chief, Musunuri Prolaya Nayaka as the leader. The Nayaka confederation rebelled and recaptured Warangal. Prolaneedu was succeeded by his cousin Kaapaanedu which was resented by the Velama Nayakas. They again sought the help of the Bahmani sultan and killed Kaapaya Nayaka. Thus ended the unity of Telugu land.
The Velamas subsequently fought the Reddy Kingdom and Vijayanagar Empire on behalf of Bahmanis. Ultimately, Krishnadevaraya vanquished all and unified Andhra Pradesh. Velamas had to join the imperial service of Vijayanagar as military contingents and regional governors. Many Velamas thus settled in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere.