AP police books ex-ministers, actor for unlawful assembly

Hyderabad: The AP police on Wednesday issued FIRs against political leaders from the Kapu community including former Union minister M.M. Pallam Raju, former state ministers from Congress, BJP and YSR Congress, a TV channel CMD and Tollywood director-cum-actor G.V. Sudhakar Naidu for unlawful assembly. Some of them were booked for conspiracy and road blockade.

Former Union minister M.M. Pallam Raju, former state minister Vatti Vasantha Kumar, MP V. Hanumantha Rao, former DCCB director Akula Ramakrishna of Congress, former state minister Kanna Lakshminarayana of the BJP, former minister Botsa Satyanarayana and Ambati Rambabu of YSRC have been named as accused in some of FIRs. No.1 News channel’s CMD M. Sai Sudhakar Naidu who is a Kapu and had participated in the meeting has also been named as an accused.

In violence cases only Mudragada Padmanabham and some others have been named. None of the leaders of political parties figured in the FIRs. “The Kapu meeting was held without permission. It amounts to unlawful assembly. Politicians and others who participated and were on the stage were made accused in one of the FIRs connected with unlawful assembly. Some politicians like Pallam Raju sat along with Mudragada during the road blockade in which some buses were damaged. So other cases were booked. Likewise others who took part in the rail blockade along with Mudragada were also booked,” said a senior police official. According to sources, Mr Pallam Raju has been named in three FIRs, including for conspiracy and road blockade. Mr Kanna Lakshminarayana has been named in one case of unlawful assembly. The owner of the coconut grove where the meeting took place, Mr Raja, has also been booked.

Around 27 Kapu leaders have been booked including YSRC MLA Dadisetty Raja and Jakkampadui Vijayalakshmi. Tollywood actor G.V. Sudhakar Naidu, who had earlier contested from Gajuwaka with the blessings of Chiranjeevi said, “I attend Kapu meetings regularly. In my speech I said that at July 10, 1988’s Kapunadu meeting at Vijayawada around 10 lakh had attended and after 28 years I am seeing such a crowd again. Then I said ‘Jai Kapu, Jai Mudragada, Jai Vangaveeti, Jai Pawan Kalyan.’ Then the power was cut. People begun running on to the stage and fell on me, so I ran for cover. I took an OB van and got down at a nearby village and then took the bus.”

He added, “No one knew the agenda of Mudragada. Even all other political leaders left the spot. Participating in a community meeting is not an offence. I haven’t instigated anyone. We are not anti-social elements.”

Mudragada Padmanabham plans hunger stir
Kapunadu leader Mudragada Padmanabham reiterated on Wednesday that he would go on an indefinite hunger strike from February 5 at his house at Kirlampudi in East Godavari district along with his wife Padmavathi, demanding inclusion of Kapus in the BCs list and allocation of Rs 2,000 crore for Kapu Corporation.

He told reporters on Wednesday that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was trying to suppress the Kapus by booking false cases. He demanded that the CM should withdraw cases against Kapu activists as the violence was engineered by the TD.

He said after Kapus came on to the streets the CM had started discussions with his Kapu friends. He warned the CM not to cheat the community. Mudragada called upon Kapus not to come to Kirlampudi to express solidarity. They should express concern in their villages without creating nuisance, he said.

Speaking about the violence, Mudragada said the TD was behind the incidents at Tuni on Sunday. He disclosed that there was an attempt to attack his wife Padmavathi who was staying at the guesthouse. He said miscreants made an attempt to break open doors and destroyed the overhead tank and windows. He said that till now he has not disclosed the matter. Our cars were also destroyed by anti-social elements, he added.  

“Clearly it was an attack on my family and only the TD could have done it,” Mudragada said.

He apologised to the media saying that he had always held the media in high esteem. He said he had never attacked any reporters or any media person. He also offered to compensate for the cameras and other equipment destroyed during the incident if they think that Kapus were behind the incident. Talking about the BCs movement opposing reservations for Kapus by its leader R. Krishnaiah, Mudragada said that he doesn’t want to make any comments against him as he doesn’t belong to AP. He made it clear that Kapus were fighting for elimination of poverty and that they had never objected to any BC movements in the past.