Kapu patriarch and former Minister Mudragada Padmanabham is all set to join the YSRCP later this week. After months of dilly-dallying without taking a firm political stance, Mudragada announced last week that he will extend his support to Jagan Mohan Reddy’s party in the upcoming elections without expecting anything in return.
The Kapu leader initially wanted to join Pawan Kalyan’s party and held several negotiations with Janasena leaders. He wanted to contest in the assembly elections as well. As Pawan Kalyan gave a cold shoulder because of his conditions and other reasons, Mudragada took a back step and finally opted to join the YSRCP ahead of the elections. Jagan is hoping to mobilize Kapu voters in the Godavari districts using Mudragada to counter Pawan Kalyan’s strong vote base in the two regions.
Political experts feel that the joining of Mudragada will have zero impact on the YSRCP in the upcoming elections. This is because Mudragada has no clear stance on why he is returning to politics after a hiatus of four years. Moreover, he didn’t state valid reasons for choosing the YSRCP instead of Janasena. In a strongly worded letter, Mudragada said he waited for so long expecting a personal meeting with Pawan Kalyan which didn’t materialize due to unknown reasons. So, this appears to be the only reason for his shift towards the YSRCP which is quite ridiculous.
He revealed that Jagan didn’t offer any seat or a nominated post to him. So, it is unclear why Mudragada opted to join the YSRCP and what is the rationale behind his thinking that Kapu voters will be inclined towards him if he rallies behind Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Mudragada ended his long fight for the Kapu reservation in 2020. He said that criticism from within the community because of his vested interests in advocating the Kapu reservation for political gains forced him to quit the battle.
So, it would be quite unrealistic to assume that Mudragada will all of a sudden influence the majority of his community voters better than Pawan Kalyan who hails from the same community and has been making valiant efforts for the progress of the state in the last five years.
YSRCP might be hoping that it would benefit to some extent if Mudragada manages to split Kapu votes in some of the stronghold regions in the Coastal Andhra and Godavari districts. However, the alliance between both the TDP and Janasena will offset any such split because of the solid cadre support of both parties.
Going by the current political scenario in Andhra Pradesh, Mudragada will have zero impact in the upcoming elections.