TDP Govt Clamps Down On Kapu Padayatra, House-Arrests Mudragada

As expected, the Telugu Desam Party Government clamped down on the proposed Chalo Amaravati Padayatra of Kapu patriarch Mudragada Padmanabham. As soon has he left his home in East Godavari's Kirlampudi, he was stopped by the heavily deployed police. Mudragada appealed to the police to allow him to undertake his padayatra for Kapu reservations, which were promised by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu during the elections. However, the police house-arrested him for 24 hours.

HEAVY POLICE DEPLOYMENT: Many police check-posts have been set up on the national highway, on the borders of Kirlampudi village, Gammon bridge on river Godavari and other bridges. Apart from the local police, state''s special police force and paramilitary forces were pressed into service. As many as 6,000 cops have been deployed in the district and another 5,000 police personnel would be brought into the district. Reports say that even advanced drones would be used to monitor the situation. More than 6000 Kapu leaders have been put under house arrest in the wake of Mudragada's padayatra.

AMARAVATI TURNED INTO FORTRESS Amaravati, the final destination of the padayatra was turned into a fortress with security upped on all the roads leading to the capital city. Barricades have been erected at several places and every vehicle is being checked. The Karakatta road, which leads to CM's residence, is being heavily guarded. In Krishna district, Kapu leaders like Samineni Udayabhanu, Naraharisetti Narasimha Rao, Malleswara Rao and others have been taken into custody.

YS JAGAN DECRIES ARREST: YSRCP chief YS Jagan strongly decried the house arrest of Kapu patriarch Mudragada Padmanabham. In tweet, he said Kapus were agitating only because they were promised BC reservations. It was a promise given by the ruling party at the time of the elections. He strongly criticised the arrests and bindovers by the ruling party. He said Chandrababu was making a mistake.

ALLROUND CONDEMNATION: Kapu lawyers forum has strongly criticised what they termed as the attack on human rights in Kirlampudi. They said they would lodge a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission on the illegal arrest of Mudragada Padmanabham. They staged a protest in the High Court. YSRCP MLA from Nagari RK Roja strongly criticised the police repression and said Kirlampudi was reeling under the police reign. YSRCP leaders Ambati Rambabu and Kurasala Kannababu slammed the Government for arresting Mudragada and demanded that the government start dialogue with Mudragada on the issue of Kapu reservations.