VIJAYAWADA: TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh crossed the 1,000 km milestone as part of his Yuva Galam Padayatra. Is it giving the expected political mileage to the TDP? Even the TDP claimed that Lokesh’s walkathon had already paid dividends to the party as it won two graduate MLC seats in Rayalaseema. However, the ruling YSRC had termed it a failure as Lokesh’s padayatra evoked no response from people.
After starting his padayatra from Kuppam on January 27, Lokesh has so far covered the erstwhile Chittoor and Anantapur districts. He is now continuing his walkathon in Kurnool district. Out of the total 4,000 km planned to be covered by the time of culminating the walkathon at Ichchapuram in Srikakulam district, the TDP leader has reached the 1,000 km mark now.
TDP leaders, who are accompanying him during the padayatra, said Lokesh has developed a special bond with the people and the party rank and file during the yatra. “Lokesh is not a film star. But people in large numbers are waiting on either side of the route to have a glimpse of him, braving the hot sun. Of course, as leaders, we mobilise people. But we cannot force the people to wait till Lokesh arrives at the spot. The people’s keenness to interact with Lokesh has made them wait,” said TDP former MLA Y Prabhakar Chowdary.
Speaking to TNIE, Prabhakar Chowdary said Lokesh is instilling confidence among the party rank and file, besides assuring the people to solve their problems. He is taking note of the problems during interaction with a cross-section of society and getting first-hand information so as to resolve them after the TDP returns to power in the State in the next elections.
Admitting that there were doubts among some TDP leaders whether they could reach Lokesh or not prior to his padayatra, Prabhakar Chowdary observed that Yuva Galam came in handy for them to understand that Lokesh is always accessible to them and he is free to interact with them to know the ground-level realities and also discuss the way forward. The people are now confident that the TDP would be safe in the hands of Lokesh after Naidu. The padayatra had helped him emerge as a strong leader and get acceptance from the party as he developed a special bond with the people, he claimed.
However, the YSRC leaders pointed out that except being the son of Naidu, in which capacity Lokesh is eligible to undertake padayatra. They argued that Lokesh though served as a minister in Naidu’s cabinet after being nominated to the AP Legislative Council, could not win from the Mangalagiri constituency in the 2019 Assembly elections. “The padayatra of Lokesh is nothing but the final journey of the TDP,” they remarked.