Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham has dared Jana Sena Party (JSP) president K. Pawan Kalyan to take the Kapu reservation movement forward.
Mr. Padmanabham had quit the movement in 2020.
A day after joining the YSRCP, Mr. Padmanabham, while addressing the media at his residence on Saturday, said, “I had to quit the movement due to age factor. Why can’t Mr. Pawan Kalyan take it forward? Has he expressed his solidarity with the movement?”
‘Eager to see downfall of Naidu’
Stating that he “does not have to seek permission from anybody to decide his political journey,” Mr. Padmanabham asked, “Where had Mr. Pawan Kalyan gone when my family was subjected to harassment during TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu’s rule between 2014 and 2019? We were prepared to end our lives, but desisted from it only to see the downfall of Mr. Naidu.”
“I would love to join the JSP had Mr. Pawan Kalyan demanded sharing of the Chief Minister’s post as part of the alliance with the TDP. Mr. Pawan Kalyan should have at least asked for 70 seats before inviting me to join his party. However, he never turned up and kept me waiting until YSRCP reached me,” Mr. Padmanabham said.
Claiming that he had entered the cinema field in the 1950s and politics in 1962, the Kapu leader said, “All the present Telugu actors were kids when I entered politics. Mr. Pawan Kalyan is a hero in the film industry. However, I am the real hero in politics. Why should I seek permission from Mr. Pawan Kalyan to join politics?”
Referring to the role of Kapus in his political journey, Mr. Padmanabham said, “People belonging to the Backward Classes and Dalits played an instrumental role in all the movements, including the Kapu reservation movement. Barely 5% of the poor Kapu families extended their support for my movements. Kapus alone cannot claim credit for the reservation movement.”
Mr. Padmanabham said that he did not discuss the prospects of contesting the general elections during his interaction with Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. “I am ready to contest if Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy decides to field me,” he said.
