Mudragada stays put in police van, maintains silence

Kapu supremo Mudragada Padmanabham is not getting down the police van that took him from Amalapuram to Rajahmundry and then back to his native Kirlampudi town. At the same time, he is registering his silent protest to condemn the arrest of people in connection with the large-scale Tuni violence. Mudragada is demanding that he also be arrested and made Accused 1 for the burning of Ratnachal Express. As Mudragada is showing stoic silence, his followers are doing the speaking. They told newsmen on the one side the government was assuring the Kapus that their reservations would be met and that they need not worry in this regard, and on the other they were arresting the people in the name of Tuni violence. This was creating confusion among the Kapus. Why was Mudragada taken from Amalapuram to Rajahmundry and then brought back to Kirlmpudi? It showed the government wanted to simply harass the Kapu leaders. If the government wanted to interrogate the Kapu leader, they could have done so at Kirlampudi itself, instead of taking him around in a police van and bringing him back to Kirlampudi. In fact, those arrested for Tuni violence were not Kapus at all. It was out of political vendetta that they were arrested. By projecting them as agitators, they were trying to demean the community. The arrested people should be released forthwith.