Veteran Kapu leader and former Andhra Pradesh minister Mudragada Padmanabham might have become the Governor of a state had he joined the Jana Sena Party before the 2024 Assembly elections.
This was revealed by Jana Sena Party leader and state minister Nadendla Manohar. Addressing a party meeting in Kaikaluru on Wednesday, Manohar claimed that the party had invited Mudragada to join its ranks ahead of the elections.
“Pawan Kalyan sent him a message inviting him to join the Jana Sena Party. He had even offered to recommend Mudragada’s name for a Governor’s post if the NDA alliance formed the government,” Manohar said.
He said senior party leaders had approached Mudragada before the elections and urged him to join Jana Sena, believing that his entry would strengthen the party and benefit the larger political movement.
According to Manohar, Pawan Kalyan had personally assured Mudragada that the party would take responsibility for recommending his appointment as Governor after the coalition came to power.
However, Mudragada chose to join the YSR Congress Party before the elections and actively campaigned against Pawan Kalyan in the Pithapuram Assembly constituency.
During the campaign, Mudragada publicly declared that he would change his name if Pawan Kalyan won the election. Following Pawan’s victory, he officially changed his name to Padmanabha Reddy.
Recalling Mudragada’s demise, Manohar said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan spoke over the phone immediately after learning of the veteran leader’s death.
Although the government offered to conduct the funeral with state honours, Mudragada’s family declined the offer and chose to hold a private funeral.
