Nara Lokesh takes one step forward as ‘Yuva Galam’ padayatra resumes, after taking two steps back

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The Yuva Galam story

The padayatra (walkathon), launched on 27 January, aims to give Lokesh a much-needed political boost as he faces criticism for being unfit to take over the party reins from his father.

With the TDP losing the 2019 Assembly elections, winning just 23 out of 175 seats, and Lokesh failing to win in his debut election from Mangalagiri, doubts took root among the cadre. What was worse was that Mangalagiri bordered Amaravati, which the TDP planned to turn into the state’s prestigious capital.

To dispel criticism, similar to what worked for Rahul Gandhi with the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Nara Lokesh expected things to work in his favour and launched the “Yuva Galam” (youth’s voice) padayatra.

However, things did not go well for him in the beginning.

After two stampedes during TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu’s events — three died in Guntur (1 January) and eight died in Nellore (28 December) — the Andhra Pradesh government issued Government Order (GO) 1 regulating Opposition leaders’ public rallies, processions, and public meetings.

Nara Lokesh subsequently obtained permission to start his padayatra on the 27 January from Chittoor, with conditions.

However, his cousin Nandamuri Taraka Ratna died of a severe heart attack while participating in the launch of the padayatra, shifting the focus for a few weeks.

Days later, with efforts to establish a change in his speeches and appearances amid criticism of “Pappu” by the ruling YSRCP, Lokesh gained the attention of the party cadre and leaders who joined his walkathon.

The momentum came to a halt when his father and party supremo Chandrababu Naidu was arrested on 9 September.

For at least two months, the party led only one campaign, “Nijame Galavali” (Truth alone triumphs), with Naidu’s wife and NTR’s daughter Bhuvaneshwari meeting families. With Naidu granted conditional health bail on 31 October, Nijame Galavali was also halted.

While many TDP members suggested continuing the padayatra to garner sympathy for Naidu’s arrest, concerns arose about Lokesh potentially facing arrest in the Inner Ring Road (IRR) alignment case.

This led party leaders to request Lokesh to halt the padayatra, fearing that the YSRCP government could arrest him, leaving no one to look after the party.

Asked why Nara Lokesh didn’t continue his padayatra, TDP political secretary and former MLC TD Janardhan told South First, “It is not one case or two; There are as many as six cases filed against Chandrababu Naidu, and Nara Lokesh’s name was also included as A14 in the IRR case. It was Nara Lokesh who took care of party and its legal affairs until the chief came out on bail.”

Also Read: Why BJP needs Chandrababu Naidu’s endorsement in Telangana

Political compulsion

On 20 November, when Chandrababu got regular bail, a window opened for Nara Lokesh to resume his padayatra.

Lokesh also saw no legal hurdle, as the Andhra Pradesh High Court struck down GO 1 on 12 May, saying it violated fundamental rights.

He also got relief from the high court on 29 September, as it instructed the AP CID to not arrest him but to serve the notices as per Section 41A (notice of appearance before a police officer) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) for the Inner Ring Road (IRR) alignment and Andhra Pradesh Fibernet scam cases.

But, this padayatra resumption was seen as one step forward, following two steps back, especially with the decision to not go ahead with padayatra after his father’s arrest being seen as a lost opportunity to build on the sympathy when Naidu was in jail.

Meanwhile, his management of the party in crisis was limited mostly to legal issues and Delhi meetings.

Senior journalist and political analyst Telakapalli Ravi told South First that when Chandrababu Naidu was arrested, the party was under a lot of stress — not contesting in the Telangana Assembly elections, and in a dilemma over the BJP alliance, with legal cases surrounding Chandrababu Naidu and his close aides, including Nara Lokesh.

Lokesh naturally got more attention from the public as he was the TDP’s next leader and son of Chandrababu Naidu, he noted, pointing out: “In fact, in the popular TDP-inclined print media, he didn’t get space on the first page until Naidu got arrested.”

He added: “But, Lokesh wasn’t able to live up to it, as he was seen mostly limited to Delhi, meeting the NDA leaders and looking over Naidu’s legal issues.”

He also said: “The padayatra was halted when it was in momentum in the second phase, as Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan’s Varahi campaign stole the limelight in the first phase. But, it was halted after Chandrababu’s arrest.”

Ravi posited: “There will not be much political mileage from this padayatra now, as the Uttarandhra and Godavari regions already have considerable TDP presence. Resuming the padayatra is a compulsion for him, as he would have been labelled a failure if he didn’t do so.”

Also read: With Naidu out of Telangana polls, who will share TDP vote pie?