Hyderabad: A village in the East Godavari district turned into a fortress on Friday with former minister Mudragada Padmanabham going on an indefinite fast to demand a backward status for his Kapu caste.
He was joined by his wife.
More than 2,000 police and para military personnel were deployed at the site in Kirlampudi village.
Police surrounded the entire village and no outsider was being allowed to enter the place or go near the residence of Padmanabham as the leader and the women folk of his family started their fast at 9 am. Drumming of the steel plates by the family members marked the start of the fast.
A medical team led by Dr B Srinivas examined the health condition of the couple and said that all the parameters were normal.
Mudragada said that he will not end the fast till the government accepts his major demands of inclusion of Kapus in the BCs list and release of Rs20 billion (Dh1.08 billion) to the Kapu Welfare Corporation. He also demanded probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation in to the violent incidents in Tuni town on Sunday in which a Express Train, a police station and 25 vehicles were gutted and 19 people were injured.
Superintendent of police Ravi Prakash who was camping in Kirlampudi village said that no outside will be allowed in to the village to maintain law and order.
Several prominent Kapu leaders including former minister Vatti Vasantha Kumar, K Mohan Rao and former MLA Gandhi Mohan visited Padmanabham family.
Padmanabham urged his supporters and the Kapu community members not to come to his residence but hold peaceful demonstrations at their own place.
Another prominent Kapu leader Vangaveeti Mohan Ranga Rao was shot dead on December 26, 1988 in Vijaywada when he was sitting on indefinite fast. Members of rival Kamma caste were blamed for his death which sparked a major caste conflagration in the region.
