The ‘chalo Kathipudi’ meeting of the Kapus on January 31 has been postponed. A decision on the meeting would be taken after completion of the Assembly session, Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham said on Tuesday.
The meeting was postponed following indications that the issue of allocating 5% reservation to the Kapus from the 10% announced by the Centre to the poor would be discussed at length and an Act promulgated in the Assembly, he said.
Following the announcement, the special police force was withdrawn from Kathipudi. In a letter to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, a copy of which was released to the media, Mr. Padmanabham wondered why police were deployed at Kathipudi four days in advance of the meeting.
“We have planned a small meeting to discuss our future course of action over the reservation issue. We haven’t made this demand afresh, but it is one of the several promises made by you during the previous elections,” he said.
“ The Kapus are neither Maoists nor terrorists. We are a part of this nation like any other citizen. We don’t know why you are making a big issue out of our meeting,” he said.
Expressing concern over the house arrest of members of the Kapu Joint Action Committee, Mr. Padmanabham suggested to the Chief Minister that action could be initiated against him, instead of creating troubles to his followers.
