Kirlampudi village in East Godavari district was turned in to a fortress deploying 2,000 police and paramilitary personnel as former Minister Mudragada Padmanabahm along with wife Padmavathi went on fast unto death at his home demanding backward class status to his Kapu caste.
Police surrounded the entire village and no outsider was being allowed to enter the place or go near the residence of Mudragada as the leader and the women folk of his family started their fast at 9 am. Drumming of the steel plates by the family members marked the start of the fast.
A medical team led by Dr B Srinivas examined the health condition of the couple and said that all the parameters were normal.
Mudragada said that he will not end the fast till the government accepts his major demands of inclusion of Kapus in the BCs list and release of Rs 2000 crore to the Kapu Welfare Corporation. He also demanded probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation in to the violent incidents in Tuni town on Sunday in which a Express Train, a police station and 25 vehicles were gutted and 19 people were injured.
Superintedent of police Ravi Prakash who was camping in Kirlampudi village said that no outside will be allowed in to the village to maintain law and order.
Several prominent Kapu leaders including former minister Vatti Vasantha Kumar, K Mohan Rao and former MlA Gandhi Mohan visited Mudragada family.
Mudragada urged his supporters and the Kapu community members not to come to his residence but hold peaceful demonstrations at their own place.