Stage set for Mudragada's hunger strike today

KIRLAMPUDI: THIS little village in East Godavari district is all set to become the pivot of Andhra Pradesh politics with serial hunger striker and Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham deciding to begin his threatened indefinite fast at his residence here on Thursday.

Padmanabham had set a deadline of Wednesday for the government to release seven young men arrested in connection with the arson and violence that took place in Tuni on January 31 after a rally addressed by him. They face 63 cases filed by the police.

The government made no announcement of their release on Wednesday. Padmanabham reiterated his demand for a resolution in the Assembly providing reservations to Kapus and a directive to the for Manjunath Commission to complete its survey on the socio-economic status of Kapus by August.

Padmanabham and his wife went on an indefinite hunger strike in February but called off the protest five days later with the government promising to address all the demands listed by him.

With the stage set for the fast, Kapu leaders G V S Naidu, P Dorababu were among those who met Padmanabham and expressed their solidarity with his cause.

Leaders from the Congress and YSR Congress also extended their support to him. Hundreds of Kapu youth gathered at the house of Padmanabham in Kirlampudi.

Intent on preventing a repeat of the January 31 violence in Tuni, armed policemen have been deployed in the village. Superintendent of police M Ravi Prakash is supervising security at the village.

State slaps 70 cases against Kapu leader on eve of fast

Rajamahendravaram: A day ahead of his indefinite hunger strike, Kapu leader and former minister Mudragada Padmanabham has been named as accused by the Crime Investigation Department in 70 cases filed in connection with the violence in Tuni on January 31. Of these, 63 cases were registered by the civil police and the remaining seven by the railway police. With tensions rising at Kirlampudi every passing hour, the naming of Mudragada in all cases as an accused came as a major shock to the agitators. Besides accusing him of damaging railway properties, the Kapu leader was also named in cases such as theft of cellphones.

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