Prominent Kapu leader, Mudragada Padmanabham wanted to join the ruling YSR Congress first. There were talks held between him and the representatives of chief minister and YSR Congress president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
But the talks did not reach the chief minister and they concluded inconclusively. He then decided to join the Jana Sena Party. This was expected to happen some time during the Pongal. But this did not happen, and he could not join the Jana Sena too.
What might have gone wrong in the process is the too ambitiousness of the former minister. Mudragada had been demanding at least five Assembly seats for his supporters including himself. No party is ready to give him so many seats, leave alone Jana Sena, which is finding it difficult to name candidates for its seats.
No doubt, Mudragada has some considerable strength among the Kapu community leaders. There are several Kapu people who rally behind Mudragada. That is all acceptable as it was proved several times in the past that he commands considerable respect in the community.
But that doesn’t mean that he can ask for a slice bigger than his mouth. He is asking for more share of seats that no party would be able to give them to one single leader. There are several strong leaders in every party, and they command more strength than Mudragada.
What is important is that Mudragada should come down to reality, accept his strength and the weakness of the parties to give him five Assembly seats in the bargain. There is tough competition in the parties for the Assembly tickets and there are dozens of candidates, aspirants for every Assembly seat.
Mudragada is not the only leader who commands respect in the community or rather than the people. In fact, he loses the votes of other communities who oppose the Kapu castes, particularly in the Godavari districts, besides Krishna and Guntur districts.
He should realise that he should not ask for what the parties could not give him. Any political party will accept him if he asks for his seat and one more for his supporters. That would be acceptable and reasonable for Mudragada and anything more than that is too much!
