Hyderabad, July 15 -- Senior YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leader and former Andhra Pradesh minister Mudragada Padmanabham, who spearheaded the Kapu reservation movement for more than three decades, died on Tuesday evening while undergoing treatment for kidney-related ailments at a private hospital in Hyderabad, his family said.

He was 73.His son, Giri Babu, said Mudragada died around 6 pm after his condition deteriorated. He had been admitted to the hospital on June 16 for treatment of kidney complications.

A native of Kirlampudi village in East Godavari district, Mudragada was born on January 22, 1953. He entered electoral politics in 1978 and went on to serve four terms as an MLA, two terms as a minister in the undivided Andhra Pradesh ...