Amaravati, June 20: Veteran Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham has changed his name to Mudragada Padmanabha Reddy, keeping his word to do so if he failed to defeat Jana Sena Party leader K. Pawan Kalyan in Pithapuram Assembly constituency. A notification in this regard was published in Andhra Pradesh Gazette.
Mudragada, who had joined YSR Congress Party in March this year, had thrown a challenge to actor-politician Pawan Kalyan that he would change his surname to 'Reddy' if he failed to defeat him. Pawan Kalyan won the Pithapuram seat in Kakinada district, defeating seasoned politician and former MP Vanga Geetha of the YSR Congress. The actor-politician defeated Geetha by over 65,000 votes.
Pawan Kalyan, whose party is part of the National Democratic Alliance which stormed to power at the Centre, has become the Deputy Chief Minister. Like Pawan Kalyan, Mudragada, a former minister, hails from Kapu community. During the poll campaign, Mudragada had slammed Pawan Kalyan for not showing up in support of the agitation demanding reservation for the Kapu community.
After the election results were announced on June 4, Mudragada said that he would change his name to Padmanabha Reddy in keeping with his word. He had also said that he was clueless as to why people have not accepted Jagan Mohan Reddy despite then YSR Congress government spending crores of rupees on the welfare of the poor.
The veteran leader, however, made it clear that he will remain with the YSR Congress. TDP-Jana Sena-BJP alliance stormed to power in the state with a landslide victory. The alliance bagged 164 seats in the 175-member Assembly and also won 21 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats.
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