AP Govt in a bind over Mudragada fast

• Efforts to reach out to Kapu leader fail as he turns down the government offer to mediate through interlocutors
• Minister Narayana’s olive branch too did not offer any succour
• Blames Congress, YSRCP for instigating Kapu youth

Vijayawada: The State government seems to be in a fix over the indefinite hunger strike launched by the former minister and Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham at his native Kirlampudi village on Friday, demanding reservations for Kapus.

The angry leader turned down the mediation offer forwarded by the ruling TDP through legislators Thota Trimurthulu and Bonda Umamaheswara Rao. The party is now caught in a piquant situation with Mudragada not heeding to their requests.

The party leadership had summoned senior Kapu leader and the Municipal Administration Minister Dr P Narayana from Tirupati to address a press conference countering Mudragada’s hunger strike. Narayana, who was closeted with a Singapore Minister to discuss the capital city master plan had to cut short his meeting and returned to Vijayawada.

While addressing the media, he made an appeal to the Kapu leader to withdraw his hunger strike as the government is firm on extending reservations for the community. While going soft on Mudragada, the Minister took a dig at the Congress and the YSR Congress leaders for misleading the Kapus for political gains.

The Minister said that the Congress had promised reservations for Kapus in 2004 elections and wondered why the leaders remained silent for ten years while in power. He blamed the Congress leaders, several of whom are now with the YSR Congress, for not fulfilling their election promise between 2004 and 2014 in power. He said that the Congress and the YSR Congress were now instigating the Kapu youth to indulge in violence and creating problems to the government.

“The Congress had promised reservations for Kapus but did nothing for 10 years. The TDP had promised reservations in 2014 elections and today, we have constituted Kapu Corporation and Kapu Commission. We have even allocated money for the Kapu Corporation to extend financial assistance to the community,” Minister Narayana said and questioned the intentions of Mudragada in launching hunger strike.

When asked what the government is intending to do to avoid law and order problem caused by the hunger strike, the Minister asserted that “the administration would take care of the law and order issues.”Meanwhile, the Kapu leaders held a protest at the sub-collectorate here on Friday in support of Mudragada Padmanabham’s hunger strike.

The Kapu leaders Adapa Sivanagendra, Galla Subrahmanyam, Badita Shankar, Alla Chella Rao, Nelibandla Raju and others raised slogans in support of Mudragada. The leaders also skipped their lunch as part of their protest and said that they would continue to skip lunch as long as Mudragada’s hunger strike continues at Kirlampudi.

BJP to hold protest today
The Kapu leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the political ally of the ruling Telugu Desam, are set to hold a protest in the city on Saturday in support of Mudragada Padmanabham’s hunger strike. The BJP leaders have secured clearance from the city police to hold the protest at Lenin Center. The leaders also unhappy with the ruling partner, TDP, for framing BJP leaders like Kanna Lakshminarayana and Adapa Nagendra in cases at Tuni.

They are likely to raise slogans against the government for “foisting” cases against the party leaders who have attended the Kapu Garjana and extended solidarity. The BJP’s protest is likely to be yet another jolt for the ruling Telugu Desam, as the protest would expose the bickering in the alliance.

Interestingly, the BJP Minister in the State Cabinet, P Manikyala Rao, did not attend the emergency meeting convened by the Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on February 1, where majority of the Kapu Ministers from the government joined him.