Megastar Chiranjeevi backs Kapu agitation

Actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi, the ‘megastar’ of Tollywood, cried foul over the arrests of Kapu youth in East Godavari district and the ‘repression unleashed against the Kapus and those who are sympathetic to the cause’,

The Kapus are demanding backward class (BC) status for their community and its speedy implementation.

“Police are arresting the innocent Kapu youth. The government has blocked news channels which were covering the Kapu agitation and Mudragada Padmanabham’s indefinite fast in East Godavari district. This is totally dictatorial governance and it is unacceptable,” Chiranjeevi said in a statement today while Mudragada’s fast at the Rajahmundry Hospital entered day three today.

As he has been refusing to undergo medical tests and food, the government is said to have dispatched a team of doctors from Kakinada medical colleges to assess the risks to the health of the Mudragada from the continued fasting.

Breaking his silence over Mudragada’s indefinite fast, Chiranjeevi, who is also a Rajya Sabha member from Congress, condemned Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s approach towards the fasting leader and his family members.

Expressing solidarity with the Mudragada’s fight to get BC status to Kapus, Chiranjeevi questioned the ‘need’ to break open the doors to arrest a harmless leader backed by a huge police force and creating panic among his supporters.

Objecting to the alleged highhandedness of the police, Chiranjeevi, who is also a prominent Kapu leader in the state, said he had received reports that the police had misbehaved with Mudragada’s wife and manhandled his son.

Pointing out at the contradictions in the chief minister’s own statements, he cautioned Naidu that his attitude towards Kapus would add fuel to the tension already prevailing in East Godavari district.

“On one side the chief minister repeatedly said that he has gathered all the information about the Tuni Rantanchal Express train burning incident. He conclusively said people from East and West Godavari district were not involved in the arson and it was the handiwork of criminal elements who came in from Rayalaseema.

“But all those who have been rounded up by the police so far were all youth from East Godavari district. People won’t accept his double standards,” Chiranjeevi said, demanding a CBI probe into the Tuni Rantanchal Express burning incident.

Instead of trying to untie the Kapu reservation knot , the CM has complicated the whole is by politicising the fast of Mudragada and trying to divert the attention away from his own commitment to accord BC status to Kapus

Chiranjeevi alleged that the chief minister had been vindictive towards Mudragada from day one.

“Instead of trying to untie the Kapu reservation knot, the CM has complicated the whole is by politicising the fast of Mudragada and trying to divert the attention away from his own commitment to accord BC status to Kapus,” he said.

He warned the chief minister that he should rather work to find out a solution to the problem than resorting to inciting Kapu ministers, MLAs and other leaders against the Kapu agitation and its protagonist.

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