YSR Congress (YSRC) president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday incurred the wrath of Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham for reportedly saying he could not promise inclusion of Kapus in the list of Backward Classes on the ground that the matter was in the Central government’s purview.

Mr. Padmanabham sought to know why the Kapus should vote for the YSRC if it was not concerned with their plight and as the word went around that Mr. Jagan had changed his stand on the contentious issue during his Praja Sankalpa Padayatra at Jaggampeta in East Godavari district the previous evening, members of the community staged protests when he reached Goneda village in Kirlampudi mandal on Sunday. They held placards and raised slogans that Mr. Jagan was cheating them by making a ‘U-turn’.

 

Jagan faces the heat

Tension prevailed for a while as the Kapu youth in East Godavari were pushed aside by Mr. Jagan’s security personnel but the situation came under control following the deployment of a large number of policemen.

Addressing the media at Kakinada, Mr. Padmanabham said the community had been deprived economically and socially for many generations and they would not remain submissive. If Mr. Jagan’s argument was to be accepted, he should explain the reasons for fighting with the Centre on many other issues which were also in its domain.

Mr. Jagan should also answer why he extended his support to the Kapu agitation at the time of Tuni incident and then slowly changed his line.

Mr. Padmanabham mocked at the assurances being given by Mr. Jagan wondering if the State’s Budget would be enough for delivering his much-hyped promises. He took objection to Mr. Jagan’s contention that the reservations could not exceed 50% as per the Supreme Court orders.