TDP general secretary and party president N Chandrababu Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh on Wednesday unveiled his programme for undertaking marathon padayatra for 4,000 km in a span of 400 days, starting from Kuppam in Chittoor district to ending at Ichapuram in Srikakulam district.
Lokesh declared that his padayatra is essentially aimed at attracting youth and mobilise them to participate in the agenda-setting process.
He named his padayatra as “Yuva Galam” (voice of youth) and asked the youth of the state to express their opinions on various issues confronting the state.
He said the padayatra would provide a platform for the youth and others to come together, speak up and fight for what they deserve.
“Due to backtracked development and lack of investments in the state, the future of youth in the state is at crossroads,” he said.
Stating that youth constitute almost 50% of the state’s population, but only have 12% representation in the state, Lokesh said the state was unquestionably leading, but only in terms of drugs and alcohol abuse, crime rates.
“This is not what our people deserve,” he said.
He said his padayatra would propose a youth-centric agenda.
“People can participate in the Yatra by giving a missed call to 96862 96862, or signing up on YuvaGalam.com,” he said.
So far so good. But one wonders whether Lokesh has the capability to attract the youth.
Having failed to achieve electoral success, he has so far turned out to be a failed politician, who is heavily trolled on the social media.
Lokesh is not as articulative as his father Naidu is. Every word of his will be closely watched by his critics and media. If he fumbles in speaking even a single word, it will fetch him a very bad name.
Under these circumstances, it remains to be seen how far he would be able to reach out to the youth.