Veteran Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham passed away on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, at a private hospital in Hyderabad, following a prolonged illness. He was 73 years old and is survived by two sons and a daughter. Born in 1953 in Kirlampudi village in the undivided East Godavari district, Padmanabham’s entry into politics was an accident.
He stepped into the shoes of his father, two-time MLA Veera Raghava Rao, upon the latter’s demise. Padmanabham had a long and varied career in politics, serving as a Cabinet minister in N.T. Rama Rao’s regime and later moving to the BJP and the Congress.
He was also elected as Kakinada Member of Parliament in 1999. Padmanabham is perhaps best known for leading Andhra Pradesh’s longest social movement, seeking Backward Class status for Kapus. The movement’s most explosive day came on January 31, 2016, when Kapu Garjana protesters set fire to the Ratnachal Express near Tuni.
He quit the agitation in 2020, citing attacks on his course of action by fellow Kapu people on social media and TV channels. In March 2024, Padmanabham joined the YSR Congress Party and vowed to add ‘Reddy’ to his name if Jana Sena Party president K. Pawan Kalyan won the Pithapuram constituency.
Mr. Pawan Kalyan won the seat, and Padmanabham changed his name on June 20, 2024. N. Chandrababu Naidu announced that the last rites of Mr. Padmanabham would be performed with State honours at Kirlampudi.
Leaders from across party lines are arriving at Kirlampudi to pay homage to the veteran leader. However, a pall of gloom descended upon his native village, as family members and supporters attempted to prevent his daughter, B. Kranthi, from paying her last respects.
She was escorted by police personnel to have a glimpse of the body, amid tension and slogans against her presence. The incident occurred in the run-up to the 2024 general elections, when Ms. Kranthi had opposed her father’s decision to join the YSR Congress Party. She campaigned for the Jana Sena Party, and Mr. Padmanabham had declared publicly that he would never see her face again.
