Kapu leaders and activists staged a dharna at the Gandhi statue near GVMC on Wednesday alleging that the Chandrababu Naidu government was snatching the civil rights of the people by the use of police force.
They were protesting against deployment of a large contingent of armed police at Kirlampudi village to prevent Kapu leader and former Minister Mudragada Padmanabham fromparticipating in his proposed ‘padayatra’.
They raised slogans denouncing the action of the government. Kapu Sena honorary president B.N. Murthy said apart from placing Mr. Padmanabham under house arrest and around 7,000 strong police personnel were deployed in East and West Godavari districts, Krishna and Guntur districts. Kapu leaders all over the State were taken into preventive custody, he said.
The Kapu leaders earlier garlanded the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. They alleged that Mr. Chandrababu Naidu was trying to achieve temporary political gains by dividing the Kapu community. They warned that TDP would have to pay a heavy price, if it deceived the Kapu community
