Right from the beginning, it was YSR Congress party which has been solidly supporting the agitation taken up by former minister and Kapu strongman Mudragada Padmnabham for inclusion of Kapus in the Backward Classes list and achieving reservations for them in education and employment.
When Mudragada held Kapu Garjana at Tuni in January 2016, it was YSRC which provided all moral and financial support because YSRC president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy felt it was a legitimate demand.
The YSRC activists also bore the brunt of police oppression, faced lathi-charges and went to jails after being implicated in false cases by the Telugu Desam Party government headed by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
While Naidu tried to create a split among the Kapu communities by making false promises, it was YSRC, which had exposed him in the state assembly.
Even Jana Sena Party floated by Pawan Kalyan did not speak a word in favour of Kapu agitation then and did not extend any support to Mudragada for the simple reason that he was supporting Naidu then.
Now, all of a sudden, Pawan Kalyan has become a hot favourite and Jagan a villain for Mudragada.
Just because Jagan spoke the factual position stating that the Kapu reservation issue is in the hands of the Centre, Mudragada calls him a betrayer of Kapus and accuses him of taking a U-turn on Kapu reservations.
He even insulted Jagan by stating that Kapus would give him Rs 20,000 crore if he declared a Kapu leader as the chief ministerial candidate.
At the same time, Mudragada was all praise for Pawan Kalyan for stating that he would strive for inclusion of Kapu reservation in IX Schedule of the Constitution.
“Whoever does justice to Kapus, we will vote for them in 2019 elections,” he said.
Latest talk doing rounds in the political circles is that Mudragada has agreed to rally all the Kapus behind Pawan Kalyan in the next elections. In return, Pawan would give him party ticket for Lok Sabha elections from Kakinada.
It clearly shows that Pawan is banking solely on Kapu votes, notwithstanding his tall claims that he does not belong to one caste but is a man of all sections of people. In practice, he is behaving like any other politician depending on caste votes.
But one doubts whether Mudragada continues to enjoy the same credibility he had in the past and whether Kapus would blindly follow him.
In Kakinada civic elections, the TDP proved him wrong and in the next elections, it will be Jagan’s turn to call Mudragada bluff!