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TDP seeks police protection for Lokesh during padayatra
In a letter to DGP Reddy on Monday, TDP politburo member Varla Ramaiah expressed apprehension over a “possible threat to Lokesh’s life”.
Telugu Desam Party has written a letter to Andhra Pradesh director general of police K V Rajendranath Reddy seeking adequate police protection to party general secretary Nara Lokesh during his padayatra, people in the know of the matter said on Tuesday.
TDP chief and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s son Lokesh will be embarking on a marathon padayatra (foot march) for over 400 days starting January 27 across the length and breadth of Andhra Pradesh, in the name of Yuva Galam (voice of the youth), HT had reported earlier on November 26.
In a letter to DGP Reddy on Monday, TDP politburo member Varla Ramaiah expressed apprehension over a “possible threat to Lokesh’s life”.
He said Lokesh proposed to go on a padayatra for 4000 kilometres, starting from Kuppam in Chittoor district till Ichapuram in Srikakulam district. “The programme is aimed at enlightening the public in general and youth in particular,” he said.
Seeking permission for the padayatra of the TDP general secretary, Ramaiah requested that “adequate security be provided” to the young leader.
“We will not cause any hindrance to the free flow of traffic and maintenance of law and order,” he said.
The TDP leader also pointed out that Lokesh had, “in the recent past, faced threat to his life” and challenges from extremists, factionists and political rivals. “In view of this, we request you to provide necessary security arrangements throughout the padayatra and at the night, halt venues in order to avoid any untoward incident,” he said.
He also requested the DGP to give “appropriate directions to all the police stations” across the state to provide adequate security to the padayatra.
He said that T Naresh, personal assistant of Lokesh, will act as the single point of contact and will authenticate necessary information to the police authorities throughout the padayatra.
Earlier, while announcing his decision to go for the foot march, Lokesh had said that he will walk for four days in Mangalagiri constituency from which he had unsuccessfully contested in 2019 assembly elections and in the remaining days, he will try to cover all the constituencies in the state.
The TDP general secretary said his padayatra will cover a total distance of 4,000 km in a span of 400 days, indicating that he would walk, on an average, about 10 km a day.
