A defiant Kapu leader, Mudragada Padmanabham, the four-time MLA and one-time MP, holds the record of holding ministerial berths in both the TDP and Congress governments headed by N.T. Rama Rao and M. Chenna Reddy.
He started his political career as Janata Party MLA in 1978, switched over to the TDP in 1982 and won both the 1983 and 1985 elections from Prattipadu Assembly constituency in East Godavari.
He took up fast-unto-death three times and indefinite hunger strike for another three times, and this is his 7th deeksha.
Mr. Padmanabham, though looks genteel, is a fighter and has a 40-year-long political history supported by his wife Padmavathi for the last 22 years.
He shot into limelight after the murder of Kapu leader Vangaveeti Mohana Ranga Rao in Vijayawada on December 26, 1988.
Large-scale violence had taken place in East Godavari, where people are still identified as peace-loving and calm-going.
“About 100 RTC buses, magistrate courts, government buildings, and other public property were damaged during the riots and arson during that time,” said a senior advocate from Amalapuram.
A seven-day fast-unto-death in 1989 was taken up by Mr. Mudragada when police booked cases against him and farmers of Uttara Kanchi village in Pithapuram mandal, which gave him a good break in politics.
Ms. Padmavathi also fasted in her Kirlampudi residence in support of her husband.
He resigned his ministerial berth in NTR cabinet and started Praja Rakshana Samiti and later his own Telugu Nadu Party with K.E. Krishna Murty and K. Jana Reddy, who are now with the TDP and Congress respectively.
Later, he hosted a great reception to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Prattipadu in 1988 and was elected MLA and held a ministerial berth. He took up BC quota for Kapu community demand in 1993. The Mudragada couple staged indefinite fast in Lampakalova village of Prattipadu mandal.
After the 1994 defeat in the race for MLA post, he vowed not to contest from the Prathipadu constituency. He launched Kapu Nadu in the same year and then joined the BJP and played a key role in the election of U.V. Krishnam Raju from Kakinada.
He attended the RSS sakhas during this period. Later in 1999, he represented the TDP in the Lok Sabha from the same seat and lost in the 2004 election. Later, he joined the Congress and lost the election in 2009 from Pithapuram. He then shifted his loyalties to the YSR Congress and even participated in Jaganmohan Reddy’s ‘Odarpu yatras’.
After keeping away from active politics, it is said that the veteran leader is persuaded to join the TDP again by some local leaders and his loyalists during 2014 elections.
