Mudragada passes away at 73

metro india news  I Amaravathi

Veteran Andhra Pradesh politician and prominent Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham passed away on Tuesday while undergoing treatment at Sindhu Hospital in Hyderabad. He was 73 and has been suffering from age-related ailments and respiratory complications. Padmanabham breathed his last after battling ill health for the past several months, leaving the state’s political circles and his supporters in deep mourning.

Born on January 22, 1953, in Kirlampudi of East Godavari district, Mudragada emerged as one of the most influential voices of the Kapu community. Throughout his political career spanning nearly five decades, he remained at the forefront of the movement demanding reservation for the Kapu community, earning recognition as one of its strongest champions.

Mudragada entered electoral politics in 1978, winning as a Janata Party MLA from Prattipadu. He later joined the Telugu Desam Party and was elected to the Assembly in 1983, 1985 and 1989, besides serving as a minister in the N.T. Rama Rao Cabinet. Following differences with the TDP leadership, he floated his own political outfits, Praja Rakshana Samithi and Telugu Nadu, before winning the Kakinada Lok Sabha seat in 1999. In recent years, he joined the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).