APNEWS

Kapu Community Leader and Former Minister Mudragada Padmanabham Dies at 73

Mudragada Padmanabham, a prominent Kapu community leader and former minister who served six terms as a member of the legislative assembly, passed away on Tuesday at Sindhu Hospital in Hyderabad. He was 73 and had been undergoing treatment for respiratory illness for the past month.

By Open Vaartha Desk · 2026-07-14

TL;DR

Veteran Kapu community leader and six time MLA Mudragada Padmanabham passed away at a Hyderabad hospital on Tuesday after a prolonged illness.

Key points

Mudragada Padmanabham, aged 73, passed away on Tuesday at Sindhu Hospital in Hyderabad after his health condition worsened following a month of treatment.
He was born in 1953 in Kirlampudi in East Godavari district and had been suffering from respiratory diseases for some time.
Mudragada won as MLA six times and as a Member of Parliament once, first entering the assembly in 1978 on a Janata Party ticket.
He served as minister in the governments of NTR and Chenna Reddy and was widely recognised as the leader of the Kapu community movement in Andhra Pradesh.

Mudragada Padmanabham, a senior Kapu community leader and former minister, passed away on Tuesday at Sindhu Hospital in Hyderabad. He was 73 years old. He had been admitted to the hospital about a month ago due to deteriorating health and had been undergoing treatment for respiratory illness. His condition worsened significantly on Tuesday and he breathed his last at the hospital. He is survived by a son and a daughter. Mudragada Padmanabham was born in 1953 in Kirlampudi in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. He entered electoral politics in 1978 when he won a seat in the state legislative assembly for the first time representing the Janata Party. He went on to win four consecutive assembly elections between 1978 and 1989, establishing himself as a powerful and consistent political force in the region.Over his long political career Mudragada won as a Member of the Legislative Assembly six times and also served once as a Member of Parliament. He held ministerial positions in the governments led by the late NTR and former Chief Minister Chenna Reddy. His experience across multiple governments and parties gave him a broad base of political knowledge and public credibility.Beyond electoral politics Mudragada Padmanabham was most widely known as the leader of the Kapu community movement in Andhra Pradesh. He was a strong and vocal advocate for the rights and recognition of the Kapu community and led several large agitations demanding reservations for the community. His leadership of these protests made him one of the most recognised faces of community based political mobilisation in the state.In the period before the 2024 general elections Mudragada joined the YSR Congress Party. His death marks the end of a long and eventful public life that spanned more than four decades of politics and community activism in Andhra Pradesh. Leaders across party lines are expected to pay tribute to him in the coming days.