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TDP chief Naidu’s son Lokesh to embark on Andhra padayatra
A TDP functionary privy to the development said Lokesh would embark on the state-wide padayatra most probably in October or November
Nearly a decade after Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu embarked on a marathon padayatra (foot march) across the length and breadth of Andhra Pradesh that catapulted him to power in the state in 2014, party general secretary Nara Lokesh has decided to follow his father’s footsteps.
A TDP functionary privy to the development said Lokesh would embark on the state-wide padayatra most probably in October or November. “There is a talk that he might launch the padayatra from October 2, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti. But it might not be final,” he said.
The decision that Lokesh should take up a padayatra to galvanise the party cadre and revive the party’s fortunes in the run-up to the 2024 assembly elections in the state was taken almost a month ago. “It was discussed again during the internal meeting headed by Naidu on Monday,” the party leader said.
The leader said the party is in an upbeat mood following the success of Mahanadu, the biennial conclave of the TDP held in Ongole on May 27 and 28. “The meeting has generated a lot of euphoria among the party cadre, and to sustain it, the party has to take up a big programme like padayatra,” he said.
Lokesh is presently focusing on the Mangalagiri assembly constituency in the Guntur district, where he had lost to YSR Congress party candidate Alla Ramakrishna Reddy in the 2019 state assembly elections.
“He is keen on regaining the lost ground and winning the seat at any cost in the next elections. He is extensively touring Mangalagiri, touching every village and every house. After completing his mission in Mangalagiri, he would focus on the padayatra,” the leader quoted above said.
The TDP general secretary wants to do a marathon padayatra, without giving any break, till he covers the entire state, the leader said. His father Chandrababu Naidu, too, embarked on a similar padayatra from October 2, 2012, to April 27, 2013. He covered a distance of over 2,800 km in 208 days, and it fetched him to victory in the assembly elections in May 2014.
YSR Congress party president and chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy currently holds the record for the longest padayatras in the state. He walked for a distance of 3, 648km over 341 days starting from November 6, 2017, to January 9, 2019, in the name of “Praja Sankalpa Yatra,” and came to power in April 2019 assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh.
Earlier, Jagan’s father, late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, walked for 1470 km in 64 days in 2003 and brought the Congress to power in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh in the 2004 assembly elections.
