Will launch fresh stir as TDP govt ignoring us: Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham

Accusing the Andhra Pradesh government of “cheating” Kapus, quota stir leader Mudragada Padmanabham today threatened to launch a fresh agitation seeking the community’s inclusion in the Backward Classes category.

“Kapus are cheated by the TDP government. Another agitation is imminent and the intensity of the fresh stir would be much higher as the community members are seething with anger,” Padmanabham said.

The agitation by the community at Tuni in East Godavari district had turned violent when the protestors went on a rampage setting on fire a passenger train, a police station, and police and private vehicles on January 31.

Padmanabham said a detailed plan of the agitation will be announced in the next couple of days after a meeting with Kapu leaders tomorrow.

“I and my followers are ready to go to jail if police arrest them in connection with the January 31 incident during the ‘Kapu Ikya Garjana’,” he said, alleging that police are threatening the community members who had attended the protest rally.

Padmanabham, who is spearheading the stir for reservation in education and jobs in Andhra Pradesh, accused Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu of “ignoring” the assurances he had given to Kapus.

“Kapus are denied loans which are being cornered only by TDP leaders in name of ‘Janmabhoomi Committees’. It has been about three weeks since I called off my fast, but the government is yet to fulfill its promises,” he claimed.

He said Kapus are deliberately being denied loans for participating in the January agitation.

“Only 30,000 applicants are selected for granting loan out of 3.5 lakh applicants from 13 districts under ‘Kapu Welfare Corporation’,” he alleged.

The Kapu leader had sat on a hunger strike last month, but called it off on the fourth day on oral assurances given by a team of TDP leaders sent by the CM.

He had claimed he was promised the government would release Rs 500 crore for the Kapu Welfare Finance Corporation in the present financial year and allocate Rs 1,000 crore every year from the next budget.

He was reportedly promised that Manjunath Commission’s report on inclusion of Kapus in the BC list would be submitted before seven months, and cases would not be booked against innocent people in relation to the Tuni violence.