Mudragada Padmanabha, a prominent Kapu figure from Kakinada known for leading efforts to add Kapus to Andhra Pradesh’s Backward Classes list, passed away on Tuesday in a Hyderabad hospital following extended health issues. He was 73.
Hailing from Kirlampudi in Kakinada district, Mudragada became the central voice for the Kapu reservation campaign after Andhra Pradesh split in 2014. Kapus make up roughly 15-18 percent of the state population and have often acted as a swing voting group without strong loyalty to any single party.
Following the division, Mudragada pressed harder for BC classification for Kapus. Successive chief ministers, including TDP’s N Chandrababu Naidu and later Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy from 2019, pledged to address the demand. Yet neither administration delivered the reservation, heightening Mudragada’s dissatisfaction.
