Padmanabham to Rally Forces in Prathipadu

Kakinada: Kapu Nadu leader Mudragada Padmanabham is making efforts to strengthen his ground force in Prathipadu constituency.

Padmanabham, who recently joined the YSRC, kept himself away from the constituency for the past 30 years as he could not win the 1994 and 2014 polls. Though he contested from Kakinada Lok Sabha constituency in 1999 as a Telugu Desam nominee, he lost and Parvatha Bapanamma won the seat. In 2014, Padmanabham lost his deposit.

Yet, he rallied forces around him through the Kapu reservations agitation. His clout with the community endeared him to all the political parties.

Mudragada Padmanabham said he is fond of the people of Prathipadu constituency and he can’t forget their sacrifices and the respect they paid to his family. “The people, in particular SCs and BCs, gave great honour to my father Veera Raghava Rao and used to welcome him by showering flowers on him in their streets. They always gave the same respect to me,” he said.

He said that during the local body elections, though the seats were reserved to Other Castes, he had offered the tickets to SCs and BCs. “Now, I would strive hard for the YSRC win in the elections and abide by instructions from chief minister Jagan Reddy. I want to see Jagan as CM for the next 30 years.”

“I seek no post from the ruling party. I want to do more service to the poor and I expect the CM would introduce more welfare schemes to improve the living standards of the downtrodden sections,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jaggampeta YSRC candidate Thota Venkata Narasimham met Mudragada and won his support for the elections. Mudragada’s native mandal Kirlampudi comes under Jaggampeta constituency.