VIJAYAWADA: In the wake of a memo filed by the Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (APCID) in the ACB court that the name of TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh has been added as A14 in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road (IRR) case, he has postponed the resumption of his Yuva Galam Padayatra from Friday.
Speculation is also rife over possible arrest of Lokesh in the IRR case. TDP senior leaders have urged Lokesh to keep his focus on consultations with legal experts in Delhi as the Supreme Court had adjourned the hearing of TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu’s quash petition in the AP State Skill Development Corporation scam case to October 3.
Following the arrest of Naidu in the skill development case on September 9, Lokesh suspended his padayatra and he went to Delhi on September 14. He kept himself busy with holding consultations with the legal experts in the cases registered against Naidu. Besides meeting leaders of several political parties to garner support, he had also given interviews to national media on the alleged ‘political vendetta’ of the YSRC government against Naidu.
Lokesh, along with TDP MPs, met President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday and submitted a representation seeking her intervention in the ‘illegal’ arrest of Naidu in the skill development case.
On the same day, the TDP announced that Lokesh would resume his Yuva Galam Padayatra at 8.15 pm on Friday (September 29) from Razole constituency, where he suspended it. However, just a day before the scheduled resumption of his padayatra, Lokesh has deferred it. TDP leaders urged him to continue the legal fight against the ‘illegal’ arrest of Naidu and attacks, atrocities and illegal cases against the party rank and file in the YSRC government.
TDP State president K Atchannaidu on Thursday said the YSRC government, which failed to show a single evidence against Naidu in the skill development case, resorted to mudslinging at the former Chief Minister by making false allegations of irregularities in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road and AP FiberNet project.
Apart from including the name of Lokesh in the Inner Ring Road case, the CID also filed a petition seeking Prisoner Transit warrant against Naidu to question him. “As we have to face all the cases legally, a decision has been taken to postpone the resumption of Yuva Galam Padayatra. The new date of resumption of padayatra will be announced soon,” Atchannaidu said.