Yuva Galam has given Lokesh a new image. He appears to have totally shed his soft, chocolate boy image, and turned into a tough, mass leader.
TDP leader Nara Lokesh at Valasapalli in the Krishna district. (Supplied)
Roars of “Jai Lokesh” rose above the crowd as TDP scion Nara Lokesh stepped out of the bus at 4 pm as scheduled. Hordes of women, the elderly, and youth were braving the scorching sun, waiting for this moment at Valasapalli in the Krishna district since 1 pm.
They had been told that Lokesh’s Yuva Gulam — Voice of Youth — padayatra would resume only at 4 pm. Still, they arrived early at the young leader’s campsite to ensure that they did not miss the moment. People jostled with each other to grab a space in the front row or other vantage points.
Their enthusiasm knew no bounds as Lokesh emerged from the bus in which he spends the nights.
Slogans reverberated in the air even as he had a quick meeting with TDP’s district leaders on the padayatra. He was winding up the yatra in the Krishna district before entering Eluru via Chintalapudi on Sunday, 27 August,
Hundreds of party workers, including women, followed Lokesh as he started walking. Slogans, the beating of drums, and dances electrified the atmosphere as people filled the narrow roads on the yatra route. Many could not get a closer look at the leader.
Lokesh is not new to politics. He has been active since just before the 2014 polls. However, the Yuva Galam — an ambitious 4,000 km-plus walkathon, of which he has covered over 2,600 — has given him a new image among the party cadres.
He is no longer the soft, inaccessible person. He is now a tough, vocal, assertive, grassroots-level leader aiming to transform into a mass leader. He seems to have come of age with a transformation that is hard to miss.
People of all ages thronged to have a glimpse of N Lokesh. (Supplied)
The politician himself admitted that Yuva Galam has transformed him — and people are loving the transformation. They have come to Valasapalli to have a glimpse of Lokesh’s new avatar.
“We didn’t have an opportunity to see him when he was minister in the earlier government. He was mostly attending meetings then, and we had little opportunity to interact with him. Thanks to Yuva Galam, he has come to us. He is now on full steam, which is the need of the hour. We want more,” Annapaneni Jala Chanda Rao of Denduluru in Eluru couldn’t help gushing to South First.
The party workers we encountered along the route felt that Yuva Galam came at the right time. The cadres were in disarray and directionless ever since the TDP suffered a humiliating defeat in 2019 in the Assembly and Parliament elections — the party’s worst since its formation in March 1982.
And the YSRCP supremo and Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had since kept the TDP under constant fire, without allowing it to recoup.
“He has come to us at the right time like a ray of hope. I have been with the party for the past 30 years. Now, where can I go now? There was no hope of survival with the kind of anarchy being unleashed by this government targeting TDP cadres. So many cases have been booked. Leaders were shunning party activities,” 60-year-old K Damodar Rao told South First at Valasapalle.
The excitement stemming from a renewed sense of hope was palpable in the party cadres all along the Yuva Gulam route. Lokesh has gained wider acceptance among the party cadre as he completed almost 60 percent of the 4,000 km padayatra which he began on 27 January. Even those leaders who had ignored him as a junior, too, are now looking up to him.
The response to N Lokesh’s yatra has uplifted the spirit of TDP workers. (Supplied)
“The response to Yuva Galam has been huge and overwhelming. It is not just the party cadres but the general public, too, is positively responding, which was beyond our expectations,” former MP and TDP’s Krishna district president Konakalla Narayana told South First.
Lokesh was always being ridiculed for having a soft image. He was often compared with his charismatic cousin, actor Jr NTR. His political acumen has been under scrutiny ever since the 2019 poll debacle. However, it now seems that Yuva Galam has helped him emerge stronger.
People and party workers took vantage positions on buildings, trees, atop buses and trucks to see Lokesh. Women performed aarti, even as firecrackers went off. Cranes bringing giant garlands are a common sight. “Anna, you should teach Kodali Nani and Jagan a befitting lesson,” party cadres screamed at the top of their lungs.
“The Yuva Galam has helped Lokesh to bond and connect with the grassroots-level workers and leaders. He has transformed from ‘Chinna Babu’ to Lokesh. From a clean-shaven Stanford educated soft individual he has matured to a bearded man with fire in his words and eyes,” a ‘Team Lokesh’ member told South First.
Internal assessment of TDP’s political consultancy team suggests that approval ratings for Nara Lokesh has seen a sharp upward tick since the launch of Yuva Galam. The team credits it largely to the one-on-one interactions Lokesh is engaging in with hundreds of people every day as part of the padayatra.
“These interactions have now taken place with thousands of people in every Assembly segment and our surveys tell us that they are far more impactful than public rallies and addresses. The interaction has made voters more vocal. Getting voters to speak up about issues that concern them when most prefer not to say anything at all is a good indicator of mood shifting,” a senior member of Lokesh’s team managing and strategising the padayatra and its outcomes, told South First.
Lokesh launched Yuva Galam from Kuppam on 27 January 2023 with a plan to cover 4,000 km visiting100 Assembly constituencies.
His padayatra entered the Eluru district at Dharmajigudem in Chintalapudi on Sunday. TDP leaders from Krishna district gave a farewell to their leader, while their counterparts and party workers from various parts of the combined West Godavari district welcomed him at Dharmajigudem.
The TDP’s Eluru district president Ganni Veeranjaneyulu, MLA, former minister Nimmala Rama Naidu, former MP Peethala Sujatha, Maganti Babu, and several other senior leaders received Lokesh.
His padayatra, however, is not without its own set of concerns.
Of the three Opposition TDP MPs in Andhra Pradesh, two have been conspicuous by their absence during party scion’s padayatra. TDP MPs from Guntur and Vijayawada — Galla Jayadev and Kesnineni Srinivas (Nani), respectively — had given the padayatra a miss leading to rumblings in the party.
While the padayatra is helping Lokesh rebuild his public image, his father and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu remains the most crucial vote catcher for the party.
Despite the time, resources, efforts being invested in the Yuva Galam, Andhra Pradesh is still set to be a Jagan Mohan Reddy versus Chandrababu Naidu battle come elections.
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