The 14-day fast taken up by Kapu strongman and former minister Mudragada Padmanabham has brought to an end a big political turmoil in Andhra Pradesh.
Now, political pundits are busy analysing as to who had lost and who had gained politically in this entire episode.
For Mudragada, his fast has brought both positive and negative publicity. Coming to positives, he has once again proved that he is the lone fighter for Kapus and that he would go to any extent to get justice to his community.
The government was forced to release the arrested youth who were involved in Tuni violence, only because of Mudragada’s agitation. However, on the flip side, Mudragada’s fast has evoked little response from the common man, only because he has been choosing fast as a weapon every time. Everybody knows he will not die and his fast is only to blackmail the government.
YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy is the biggest gainer in the episode. He has supported Mudragada agitation though to settle scores with chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu. Since he was the only person who could openly support the cause, he has gained considerable sympathy among Kapus. This will definitely fetch him mileage in the next elections.
As far as Naidu is concerned, the Mudragada agitation has dented his image to some extent, though he also earned brownie points for acting tough in the episode. While he tried to woo the Kapu community with a series of sops, he had to act tough with the agitators who resorted to violence. However, he has certainly lost a sizeable chunk of Kapu vote bank. The provocative statements of his Kapu ministers damaged his reputation to some extent.
The jokers in the game are Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan. Though Chiranjeevi tried to exploit the situation by issuing statements against Naidu government and visiting Mudragada, he could not get any acknowledgement from public.
On the other hand, Pawan remained completely silent on the issue, fearing that it would harm his acceptability among other communities, if he takes up Kapu cause.
