Mudragada Padmanabha, the controversial Kapu leader from Kakinada who spearheaded the demand for the inclusion of Kapus in Andhra Pradesh’s Backward Classes (BC) list, died on Tuesday at a hospital in Hyderabad after a prolonged illness. He was 73.
Mudragada, who belonged to Kirlampudi in Kakinada district, had emerged as the face of the Kapu community’s reservation movement after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014. With Kapus constituting an estimated 15-18% of the state’s population and traditionally not voting en masse for any one party, the community has long been seen as an influential electoral bloc capable of swinging election outcomes.
After the state’s bifurcation, Mudragada intensified the demand for BC status for Kapus. Both TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, who became the first Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh after the undivided state’s division, and later Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who became the CM in 2019, assured the community that Kapus’ demand would be considered. However, neither government succeeded in securing the Kapu reservation, leaving Mudragada increasingly frustrated.
At the time, Mudragada was attempting to consolidate the Kapu vote — a political project that actor-turned-politician K Chiranjeevi had earlier pursued through the Praja Rajyam Party (PRP), launched in 2008. The party, which had hoped to ride largely on Kapu support, failed to make a lasting impact and merged with the Congress in 2011.
Sensing growing discontent within the community, Mudragada escalated his agitation against the Naidu government. On January 31, 2016, a protest meeting he had called under the banner of “Kapu Garjana” near Tuni railway station in East Godavari district turned violent.
Protesters pelted stones at the Ratnachal Express as it entered Tuni station and later set several coaches ablaze. They also attacked railway property and the Tuni Rural police station. Scores of people were arrested in connection with the violence and arson.
The Tuni incident marked a turning point in Mudragada’s political career. Although he continued to champion the Kapu cause, he gradually withdrew from active public life. He later attempted to align with the TDP but, finding little political space, shifted his support to the YSRCP. However, he was unable to re-establish himself as a major political force.
By then, actor-turned-politician K Pawan Kalyan had emerged as the principal Kapu leader through the Jana Sena Party (JSP), steadily consolidating the grassroots support base that Mudragada had sought to mobilise.
Ahead of the 2024 Assembly elections, disillusioned with the political parties he had associated with, Mudragada declared that he would ensure Pawan Kalyan’s defeat. On April 30, 2024, he publicly vowed that if Kalyan won, he would change his name from Mudragada Padmanabham to Mudragada Padmanabha Reddy — a symbolic protest expressing his disappointment that Kapus continued to vote for leaders from other communities rather than backing someone who had championed their demand for BC status.
He campaigned for YSRCP candidate Vanga Geetha in the Pithapuram Assembly constituency. Kalyan, however, defeated Geetha by a margin of 70,279 votes. Following his public pledge, Mudragada formally changed his name through a government notification.
The run-up to the elections also saw a public spat between Mudragada and his daughter Kranthi, who had said Kalyan was the leader of the community. An enraged Mudragada had said his daughter should not visit him even after his death.
On Wednesday, Kranthi was greeted with “go back” slogans as she arrived at Kirlampudi to pay respects to her father.
After the electoral setback, he largely remained at his residence, writing a series of open letters criticising political parties over the Kapu reservation issue and other matters.
Mudragada’s political career spanned more than four decades. He entered electoral politics on a Janata Party ticket in 1978, winning from the Prathipadu Assembly constituency. He retained the seat in 1983 and 1985 as a TDP candidate before winning again in 1989 on a Congress ticket, making him a four-time MLA.
He also served as the excise minister in N T Rama Rao’s first Cabinet but resigned before completing his term. Later, he represented Kakinada in the Lok Sabha as a TDP MP from 1999 to 2004.
Politics ran in his family. His father, Veera Raghava Rao, was elected twice as an Independent MLA from Prathipadu, in 1962 and 1967.
Mudragada Padmanabha (Photo/X @governorap) 
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