Was Offered Bribe To Dump Kapu Fight: Mudragada

Senior Kapu leader and former minister Mudragada Padmanabham on Thursday made a startling revelation that the ruling Telugu Desam Party was trying to entice him with a Cabinet minister post to stay away from spearheading the movement for Kapu reservations.

The patriarch of the Kapu community, it might be recalled, had withdrawn his indefinite fast for the inclusion of the Kapus in the BC category (entailing reservations for them) in February 2016 following the intervention of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu with an assurance to resolve the issue. However, upset over the delay in the resolution of the matter, Padmanabham accused Naidu of "cheating" him to make him withdraw his agitation, and of getting TDP leaders to accuse him of acting at the behest of YSR Congress Party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. He then threatened to start an indefinite fast again from March 12 if the AP Chief Minister failed to give in writing the promises he had made.

Padmanabham however said today that he was postponing the hunger strike in view of the ongoing examinations for intermediate and SSC. He said that students from the Kapu caste had requested him to postpone the fast, and that he had agreed for that as he would not like to jeopardize the students' futures. He said he would announce his future action plan shortly.

Rattled by the fresh threat of the Kapu leader, the TDP ministers went into a huddle this morning and renewed their attack on him accusing him of becoming a pawn in the hands of the YSRCP leader.

AP Deputy Chief Minister China Rajappa, ministers P Narayana and Mrinalini, TDP president Kala Venkatrao and others, at a press conference after their meeting, wondered whether Padmanabham was enacting the fasting drama for his own selfish political gains or really in the interests of the Kapus.

The TDP leaders pointed out that the CM had promised to release Rs. 1,000 crores for Kapus in the next budget, and that loans to the tune of Rs. 192 crores had already been disbursed via a Kapu Loan Mela in Eluru. Similar programmes would be held in other areas to provide the needed loans to the Kapus, they said, and added that even in the Governor's address to the legislature, an assurance was made for providing reservations to the Kapus.

Other TDP leaders also took the opportunity to launch a vitriolic attack on Jaganmohan Reddy accusing him of trying to foment hatred in the Kapus and inciting them to revolt against the TDP government.