Mudragada Under House Arrest, Amaravathi Turns Fortress

Kirlampuri village remained tense in the wake of the proposed padayatra of Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.

As soon as Mudragada left Kirlampudi, he was stopped by police personnel. Even as Mudragada appealed to the police to allow him to undertake his padayatra for Kapu reservations, which were promised by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu during the 2014 election campaign, the police put him under house-arrest for 24 hours. The police also set up many check-posts on the national highway at Kirlampudi.

Apart from the local police, Special Police and paramilitary forces were pressed into service. As many as 6,000 cops have been deployed in the district, and another 5,000 were being brought into the district. It is learnt that over 6,000 Kapu leaders have been put under house arrest.

The state capital Amaravathi has virtually turned into a fortress with security upped on all the roads leading to it. Barricades have been erected at several places and every vehicle is being checked. The Karakatta road, which leads to Chief Minister's residence, is being heavily guarded.

Speaking to mediapersons at Kirlampudi on Wednesday, OSD Ravishankar Reddy said Padmanabham had been put under house arrest following reports that there was a possibility of violent incidents if the padayatra of the Kapu leader was allowed.

Stating that no permission was given by the police for Mudragada's padayatra, the OSD said that Padmanabham had been put under house arrest under Section 151 of the CrPC.

Meanwhile, supporters of Padmanabham, and Kapu leaders and workers were making a beeline to Kirlampudi, and the police were preventing them from entering the village. The villagers themselves were being allowed only after their identity was verified and after thorough frisking.

AP Deputy Chief Minister Nimmakayala Chinarajappa, while speaking at Amaravathi, alleged that the YSR Congress Party was behind Padmanabham's padayatra. He said that it was not proper for Padmanabham to create problems for the government and provoke the people. He also pointed out that the YSRCP leaders had not spoken a single world about reservations for Kapus or their welfare in the party's recently concluded plenary.

In Visakhapatnam, minister Ganta Srinivas Rao called upon people not to support Padayatra of Padmanabham as the former was a pawn in the hands of a political leader.