Lokesh Padayatra Is Aimed At 2024 Elections, Another Young Leader In The Festival Of Padayatras

The stage is set for another padayatra. The date has also been revealed. The recently announced Nara Lokesh Padayatra stands as an example of how leaders now believe in Padayatra as the only weapon to improve their candidature in the political arena. At present, if seen at the national level, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s huge Bharat Jodo Padayatra is going on from Kanyakumari to Srinagar. After crossing Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana states, Rahul Gandhi’s padayatra is continuing in Maharashtra. He will travel a total of 3,500 km. It must be said that this is the biggest decision and biggest adventure taken by Rahul Gandhi in his political career. YS Sharmila, who came to try his luck in Telangana politics due to a dispute with his brother in AP, is currently continuing his padayatra in North Telangana. Recently she crossed the milestone of 3 thousand kilometers. Former minister and Chandrababu’s son Nara Lokesh has gathered for a padayatra across Andhra Pradesh where assembly elections will be held in the next eighteen months. A date has also been fixed for this. The Telugu Desam Party is preparing the Lokesh Padayatra route map to last for almost a year when the AP Assembly elections are expected to be held in April 2024.

On January 27, 2023, Lokesh decided to start his padayatra from Kuppam in the Chittoor district, which his father represents. Party sources have confirmed the date to this extent. TDP sources revealed that they are preparing a route map to continue the Lokesh Padayatra in all the districts of the state. Lokesh will do a padayatra from Kuppam in the Chittoor district to Ichchapuram in the Srikakulam district. This trip is being designed so that people can stay for a year. It seems that Lokesh Padayatra will be organized with the main themes being the problems faced by the youth and unemployment.

Earlier, TDP leader and former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu also participated in the padayatra in his sixties. If we look at the pattern of padayatras at the Telugu states as well as at the national level, the leader who comes to mind is the late YS Rajasekhar Reddy. Before the padayatra, YSR and his close leader Dr. In the planning meetings organized by KVP Ramachandra Rao, many people told YSR that they did not want to go on a padayatra, but that it would be enough if they could travel in a vehicle and walk a short distance in the populated areas and speak in the street meetings organized here and there. But YSR felt that it was not enough and started the padayatra with a bold decision. On April 9, 2003, the YSR Padayatra started from Chevella in the then-joint Rangareddy district. YSR walked about 1500 kilometers for two months in the padayatra which continued in the name of Prajaprasthanam. The YSR Padayatra continued through Ranga Reddy, Medak, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam, and Ubhaya Godavari districts and passed through Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, and Srikakulam districts. Finally, the YSR padayatra ended at Ichhapuram in the Srikakulam district. The journey he continued even though his feet were blistered in Mandutenda became a milestone in his political career. After that, in 2004, the Congress party laid the foundation for the united AP assembly elections. YS Rajasekhar Reddy who won with an undisputed majority took charge as the Chief Minister on 16th May 2004. In the context of his padayatra, farmers’ issues were mainly heard, with a historic decision, he signed the file related to the free electricity scheme for the agriculture sector for the first time as the Chief Minister. Ashes Janawahini signed the file related to the free electricity scheme at the Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad city immediately after taking oath as the Central CM. YSR, who continued as a strong chief minister for six years with unwavering political acumen and strategies. It is not an exaggeration if the politics of Andhra Pradesh would have led to the present situation if it were not for the helicopter accident in 2009. In fact, many people started the Padayatra festival before YSR. However, Rajasekhar Reddy’s padayatra on Telugu politics was not possible for anyone else. In fact, Sharmila and Jaganmohan Reddy, who did padayatras after him, walked more than three thousand kilometers. Sharmila has now crossed the milestone of three thousand kilometers in Telangana. Chandrababu walked more than 2,800 kilometers. But the first name that comes to mind when we think of Padayatra is definitely YSR.

If we look at the history of the country, going to the people through padayatras and introducing the theories they preached to the people started during the independence struggle. If we have to claim the pioneer of padayatra, it is definitely Mahatma Gandhi. His Salt Satyagraha march in 1930 was the most important milestone in India’s freedom struggle. After that in 1933-34, Pujya Bapuji again marched across the country against untouchability. Later, in 1951, Acharya Vinobha Bhave went on a padayatra from Pochampally in the suburbs of Hyderabad city in the Telangana region to Buddagaya in Bihar as part of the Bhutan movement. Pochampally, which is famous for handloom sarees, is known as Bhutan Pochampally because of the Bhutan movement. Mainly to be mentioned in the politics of independent India. Former Prime Minister, late leader Chandrasekhar Padayatra. In 1983, when he was still in the ruling Congress party, Chandrasekhar traveled 4,260 kilometers for six months to know the plight of the people and the conditions in the country. As part of this, he walked from Kanyakumari to Delhi.

Although Padayatras have been held by various leaders in different parts of the country, the Padayatra that is remembered by Telugu people is definitely the late YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s. In 2003, he became the undisputed leader of the Congress party and as a strong chief minister, he matured into a leader who swept the politics of the state through the padayatra of that day. His death in a helicopter crash on 2 September 2009 shook the politics of united Andhra Pradesh. After the death of his father, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who wanted to become the CM, was rejected by Congress President Sonia, and YS Jagan also believed in Padayatra. Jagan first started the padayatra to visit the families of people who died of cardiac arrest due to his father’s heart attack. ED and CBI cases have been registered against him on charges of quid pro quo. So he had to go to jail. Jagan’s sister Sharmila, who took charge of the padayatra at that time, continued the long padayatra. In the name of ‘Maro Prajaprasthanam’, Sharmila started the padayatra on 18th October 2012 and walked about 3 thousand kilometers for 230 days till 29th July 2013. Political analysts say that Sharmila’s courageous march was very useful for the survival of the YSRCP party when Jagan was in jail. And at the same time, before the 2014 assembly elections, the TDP leader Chandrababu’s padayatra at the age of six and ten was a sensation. YS Rajasekhar Reddy was 54 years old even though he did the padayatra in 2003. Chandrababu did the padayatra in 2013 at the age of 63 for his political revival. Chandrababu walked 2,817 kilometers saying ‘Coming.. for you. He visited 86 constituencies in 16 districts for 208 days. The trek ends at Aganampudi at Visakhapatnam. After that, the division of the state and Chandrababu becoming the CM of the divided AP is known history.

After the death of his father in 2009 and after the 2014 assembly elections, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was once again ready to go on a padayatra in 2017 as his desire to become CM was shattered. In the name of Praja Sankalpa Yatra, Jagan conducted a padayatra of more than 3,600 kilometers starting from his father’s grave in Idupulapaya to Ichhapuram in Srikakulam district. He completed the padayatra in the month of January before the 2019 assembly elections. In the subsequent elections, Jagan became the CM of AP with an unwavering majority. Like this, in many padayatras in history, they tied the positions they wanted to those who conducted them. YS Rajasekhar Reddy in 2004, Chandrababu in 2014, and YS Jagan in 2019 could become CMs only through these marches. Recently, Nara Lokesh is ready for a long journey as part of his efforts to establish his own foothold in AP politics and to appear as a suitable successor to his father Chandrababu. From January 2023 to January 2024, Lokesh is preparing to organize a padayatra across AP. TDP sources revealed that a route map is being prepared for this. Special mention should be made here. The padayatras of Telugu politicians are ending in Ichhapuram. YSR in 2003 and YS Jagan in 2019 started padayatras from different places and ended at Ichchapuram. Currently, Lokesh will also start walking from Kuppam in the Chittoor district and reach Ichhapuram in the Srikakulam district. And to what extent Lokesh’s political goal will be fulfilled through this padayatra, we have to wait and see.