VIJAYAWADA: TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh, who is set to embark on padayatra in January, is going full throttle to woo the electorate of Mangalagiri Assembly constituency way ahead of elections. The Nara scion had lost the election from Mangalagiri in 2019.
Taking it as a prestigious issue, he is leaving no stone unturned to win from the constituency in the next Assembly elections. With a defeat in his maiden contest, Lokesh had become a soft target to the ruling YSRC leaders, who point out quite often how can a person who lost his election, lead the party after TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu.
Against such a backdrop, Lokesh, though touring various parts of the State on different occasions in his capacity as the party general secretary, laid enough focus on Mangalagiri and visiting all the villages and towns in the constituency.
During his door-to-door visits in the constituency and interaction with people, he is highlighting the ‘failures’ of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government as well as local YSRC MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy. During his speeches, Lokesh without limiting himself to criticise the YSRC government, is highlighting his endeavour to develop the constituency despite his defeat in the election.
“At least 12 welfare programmes are being implemented in Mangalagiri by TDP despite being the Opposition party. The number of welfare schemes will go up if the TDP comes to power in the next elections,” he asserted.
The programmes being implemented by the TDP include Anna Canteen, NTR Sanjeevini, tailoring machines for women under Stree Sakthi and Pelli Kanuka. Under NTR Sanjivini, free medicare is being provided poor patients. Medicines will also be distributed to diabetic and hypertension patients soon, he said.
As Mangalagiri is located in the capital region Amaravati, winning the seat has become a prestigious issue for both the ruling YSRC and the opposition TDP. Though the Assembly elections are more than a year from now, local leaders have already started defecting to other parties for their gains.