Veteran Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham passes away at 73
Veteran Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham has passed away at the age of 73 following a prolonged illness. He was a prominent political figure in Andhra Pradesh known for leading the movement to secure Backward Class status for the Kapu community.
Why it matters
His death marks the end of a significant era in Andhra Pradesh's social and political landscape regarding caste-based reservation movements.
Veteran Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham passed away following a prolonged illness, at a private hospital in Hyderabad on Tuesday (July 14, 2026). He was 73 and is survived by two sons and a daughter.
An astute politician, Mudragada Padmanabham had led Andhra Pradesh’s longest social movement against the successive governments to restore the Backward Class status for Kapus.
Born to a Munciff family ( Revenue officer ) in Kirlampudi village in the undivided East Godavari district in 1953, Padmanabham’s entry into politics was an accident as he stepped into the shoes of his father and two-time MLA, Veera Raghava Rao, upon the latter’s demise.
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