GUNTUR/ELURU/VIJAYAWADA: Police on Sunday took Kapu community leaders on their way to Vijayawada to hold a meeting despite being denied permission into preventive custody causing mild tensions. They were released later in the day and no case was booked.
Kapu leaders had expressed displeasure over the “attitude of the government” and said the decision to take them into custody showed the “restlessness” of the government.
“All we want is for the government to keep its promise of reservation for Kapus. We are ready for any sacrifice to achieve it,” Uravakonda Srikanth, a Kapu leader from Guntur said after being taken into custody. Stating that no permission was given for Mudragada Padmanabham’s padayatra on July 26, police are taking measures to prevent youth belonging to the community from leaving the district.
Vehicles are being checked and the movement of Kapu leaders watched as a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, police have rushed around 600 personnel to Kirlampudi of East Godavari, the native village of Kapu patriarch Mudragada Padmanabham, expecting trouble even in the district which has a rather high Kapu presence.
“We have asked for additional forces as a precautionary measure. Already, Section 30 of the Police Act is being imposed. For any rally, meeting or public gathering, prior permission needs to be taken from the police,” SP M Ravi Prakash said.
Patrolling has been intensified and police pickets and checkposts set up at vulnerable areas.
On the other hand, opposing the padayatra announced by Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham, members of Andhra Pradesh Backward Classes Welfare Association took out a bike rally from Chuttugunta Centre to Lenin Centre in Vijayawada. Raising slogans against Padmanabham, they demanded that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu withdraw his promise for the inclusion of Kapus in the state’s BC list.
Association general secretary T Chakravarthy made it clear that he would not tolerate it if the interests of the BCs was hurt. “We will not tolerate any infringement of our rights. We will fight back,” he said.