Mudragada Padmanabham, later known as Mudragada Padmanabha Reddy, was an Indian politician, four-time Member of the Legislative Assembly, one-time Member of Parliament, and one of the most influential leaders of the Kapu community’s decades-long movement for Backward Class reservation status in Andhra Pradesh.
He died on July 14, 2026, at age 73, following treatment for kidney-related illness.
Profile
| Full Name | Mudragada Padmanabham (later Mudragada Padmanabha Reddy) |
| Date of Birth | January 22, 1953 |
| Date of Death | July 14, 2026 |
| Birthplace | Kirlampudi village, East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, India |
| State of Origin | Andhra Pradesh |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | Politician, Political Activist |
| Parents | Veera Raghava Rao (father, “Kirlampudi Munsiff”) |
| Spouse | Padmavathi |
| Children | Sons Veera Raghava Rao (“Balu”) and Giribabu; daughter Kranthi |
Early Life
Mudragada Padmanabham was born on January 22, 1953, in Kirlampudi village, East Godavari district, in what is now Andhra Pradesh.
His father, Veera Raghava Rao, known locally as the “Kirlampudi Munsiff,” was elected as an Independent MLA from Prattipadu in 1962 and 1967. Padmanabham completed his schooling in his home village.
Career
Padmanabham entered active politics in 1977 and was first elected to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1978 from Prattipadu on a Janata Party ticket. He joined the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) when it was founded by N. T. Rama Rao in 1982, and won re-election from Prattipadu in 1983, 1985, and 1989.
He served as a minister in N. T. Rama Rao’s cabinet between 1985 and 1988, before resigning and quitting the TDP following the 1988 assassination of Congress leader Vangaveeti Mohana Ranga, an event that triggered widespread caste-related violence across coastal Andhra Pradesh.
Following this period, Padmanabham emerged as one of the principal leaders of the movement for Kapu community reservation, presiding over the first major Kapunadu conference in Vijayawada and founding organizations including the Praja Rakshana Samithi and the Telugu Nadu Party.
His campaign achieved a partial breakthrough when the state Congress government agreed to Kapu reservation demands in 1993–94, though he lost his own assembly seat in the 1994 elections and did not contest Prattipadu again.
He was associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 1995 to 1999, during which he helped secure the election of Krishnam Raju from Kakinada, before rejoining the TDP and winning the Kakinada Lok Sabha seat in 1999. He lost that seat in the 2004 elections.
Padmanabham’s most prominent later agitation came in January 2016, when he led the “Kapu Garjana Sabha” (also called Kapu Ikya Garjana) in Tuni, demanding that the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP government honor its 2014 election promise of Backward Class status for Kapus. The protest turned violent after participants attacked the Ratnachal Express near Tuni railway station and blocked National Highway 16, resulting in injuries to passengers and police personnel; Padmanabham began a fast-unto-death the following day.
Over his career, he was affiliated at various points with the Janata Party, Telugu Desam Party, Indian National Congress, BJP, and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), frequently criticizing successive governments for failing to deliver on Kapu reservation promises.
He joined the YSRCP on March 15, 2024, in the presence of party president and then-Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, a move that drew criticism from some sections of the Kapu community. During the 2024 election campaign, he publicly vowed to change his surname to “Reddy” if Jana Sena Party leader Pawan Kalyan was not defeated in the Pithapuram assembly constituency; after Pawan Kalyan won the seat, Padmanabham honored the pledge and formally changed his name to Mudragada Padmanabha Reddy on June 20, 2024.
Personal Life
Padmanabham was married to Padmavathi and is survived by two sons, Veera Raghava Rao (known as “Balu”) and Giribabu, and a daughter, Kranthi. He had been undergoing treatment for respiratory and kidney-related illness for roughly a year before his death.
Death
Mudragada Padmanabham died on July 14, 2026, at a private hospital in Hyderabad after being admitted on June 16, 2026, for treatment of kidney complications.
His death prompted condolences from political leaders across party lines in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, including Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, and YSRCP president Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Net Worth
No verified net worth figure is publicly available for Mudragada Padmanabham.
Works / Contributions
- Member, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly — four terms (1978, 1983, 1985, 1989)
- Minister, Government of Andhra Pradesh (1985–1988)
- Member of Parliament, Kakinada Lok Sabha constituency (1999–2004)
- Leader of the Kapu reservation movement — decades of agitation and organizing
Conclusion
Over a political career spanning nearly five decades, Mudragada Padmanabham became the defining face of the Kapu community’s struggle for reservation status in Andhra Pradesh, a legacy that leaders across the state’s political spectrum acknowledged at the time of his death in July 2026.