Kapu leader to start hunger strike today

With the Andhra Pradesh government making no announcement on including Kapus in the list of backward classes (BC), Kapu Aikya Garjana leader Mudragada Padmanabham has declared that he will be going on a indefinite hunger strike from Friday.

“I will be sitting on fast from 9 am. I request all Kapus to do the same staying at their homes. Please do not come to Kirlampudi giving chance to anti-social elements to resort to violence,” Mudragada said on Thursday evening.  He said the government has not called him for negotiations.

Mudragada is prime accused in 63 cases filed against him for allegedly inciting Kapu activists last Sunday to burn Ratnachal Express near Tuni railway station, two police stations and several vehicles in Tuni town. Mudragada, who organised the meeting in Tuni gave a call to more than 2 lakh activists gathered at the meeting to block rail and road till the government grants BC status to Kapus, a  prominent farming community in coastal Andhra Pradesh.

East Godavari SP Ravi Prakash has urged people not to go to Kirlampudi as Section 144 and Police Act 30 are in force in the entire district. Prakash said that 4,000 police personnel were drafted to secure all major installations in the district and particularly the Kolkata-Chennai highway and the railway tracks.