KAKINADA: Thanks to the ongoing agitation of senior Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham over the reservation issue, the community could get the top post of mayor in the Kakinada Municipal Corporation (KMC). The Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Nimmakayala China Rajapa has already made the announcement that the ruling TD would give the post to a candidate from the Kapu community. The opposition YSR Congress has not yet made an announcement, but sources indicate that party also would choose a Kapu candidate, if it won the elections.
Therefore, whichever party wins, a Kapu is sure to become mayor of Kakinada later this month. Earlier, in the 1980s Jyothula Seethara-murthy, hailing from the Kapu community, served as the Municipal Chairman for two terms. After a long gap, the Kapus will be getting the top post in the civic body. Though the Kapus were the biggest vote bank under the limits of KMC, for the past 25 years, they could not get the top post due to several political reasons.
During the TD regime in 1994 and 1999, the Congress candidates Ms Prabha E.Joseph and Dr Beeraka Chandrasekhar held the Municipal chairman’s post. During the Congress regime in 2005, the Congress candidate Ms K. Saroja served as the first mayor of the KMC. All the three candidates belonged to a non-Kapu community. According to a TD leader belonging to the Kapu community, the parties had decided to give the KMC mayor’s post to the Kapus only due to the agitation of Mudragada Padmanabham.
Meanwhile, Mr Rajappa said that the Kakinada mayor’s post would be given to a Kapu candidate and the TD would go to the civic body elections, allying with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He said that the seat allocation and the number of seats which the party would contest in the elections would be decided on Wednesday by holding discussions with the BJP leaders.
