At last, Telugu Desam Party general secretary and MLC Nara Lokesh has announced his decision to take up the marathon padayatra across length and breadth of Andhra Pradesh from January, more than a decade after his father and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu took up the padayatra that brought him to power in the state in 2014 assembly elections.
Lokesh spelt out his plan to the party leaders at a meeting on Friday. A TDP functionary said Lokesh would embark on the state-wide padayatra from January 27, a day after Republic Day.
He said Lokesh would commence his padayatra from Kuppam, his father's assembly constituency in Chittoor district, where the TDP was swept away by the YSR Congress party in all the local body elections.
He would walk through almost all the important assembly constituencies in the state to galvanise the party cadre and revive the party’s fortunes in the run-up to 2024 assembly elections in the state.
Though the decision was taken almost six months ago, it finally materialised now. In fact, there was a talk that Lokesh would begin the walkathon from October 2. But it was deferred as Lokesh was not physically and mentally prepared then.
Lokesh is presently focussing on Mangalagiri assembly constituency in Guntur district, where he had lost to YSR Congress party candidate Alla Ramakrishna Reddy in 2019 elections.
“He is keen on regaining the lost ground and win 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,” a party leader said.
The TDP general secretary apparently wants to do a marathon padayatra, without giving any break, till he covers the entire state.
One has to wait and see how far Lokesh would resurrect the party by next elections.