There is a craze for padayatras among politicians of Andhra Pradesh. The reason is that except Y S Sharmila, all those who have undertaken padayatra have come to the power.
It was first late Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy who launched his historic padayatra from Chevella to Itchapuram in 2003. He won the subsequent election and became chief minister for two terms.
Later, in 2013, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu took up padayatra from Hindupur to Visakhapatnam. He won the 2014 general election and became the chief minister.
Then it was the turn of Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy who walked from Idupulapaya to Itchapuram and came to power in the 2019 general election.
Taking all these padayatras into account and their success in politics, Lokesh must have decided on embarking on the marathon walk.
But what he had proved in the last 11 days of his walk was that he is no match to any of those who walked in the past.
Lokesh is becoming a laughing stock with his tongue slips and misspelled words at the public meetings or in the course of his interaction with groups of people.
Though he blamed Jagan Mohan Reddy for hugs and kisses during the padayatra in the past, Lokesh is now doing the same with the people in the walk.
His gestures too prove him a failure and make a lot of fun for the people who come to see him.
This yatra, if continued and unless dropped at least now, would be the funniest walk in the state’s political history.
He should not have opted for the padayatra as he could not deliver a good speech.
He is losing his credibility, whatever he had earned so far in the politics. Thus, the padayatra for him was proved to be a wrong option.