Hyderabad
Amidst stringent restrictions by the police, Telugu Desam Party general secretary Nara Lokesh on Friday commenced his marathon padayatra from Kuppam assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district, being represented by his father and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
Thousands of TDP workers from all parts of the state thronged Kuppam to attend the inaugural of “Yuva Galam” (voice of the youth), as Lokesh’s 4,000-km long padayatra has been named and walked along with him.
Lokesh began his yatra at 11.03 am, after offering special prayers at the temple of Lord Varadaraja Swamy in Kuppam and also offered prayers at the local churches and masjids. He took the blessings of the elders.
The party functionaries showered petals on him wishing him all the best in his endeavour. Lokesh’s father-in-law and popular Tollywood hero Nandamuri Balakrishna, TDP Andhra Pradesh president K Atchen Naidu, party politburo members and other seniors of the party walked along Lokesh.
Addressing his maiden meeting at the launch of his padayatra, Lokesh said his padayatra was aimed at bringing down the “draconian rule” of the YSR Congress party led by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
He said he had every right to go into the people, as it was the TDP government which had built the road infrastructure in the state to the extent of 25,000 km. He claimed that during his tenure as the state minister for Information Technology, he had provided employment to 40,000 youth in the software sector and another 40,000 youth in the electronics sector.
He alleged that investors were not coming forward to establish industries in the state due to inefficient administration, as investments did not mean running casinos. On the other hand, major industries like Amara Raja Batteries were chased out of the state, he said.
“The state was ruined in all sectors. All sections of people, including teachers, students, farmers and women, are unhappy with the present regime,” he said.
Lokesh said the TDP would soon bring out its manifesto for the youth and in a single page everything would be explained what the TDP would do for the youth. He said the party would specify how many jobs would be created and in which sector, besides creation of self-employment opportunities.
He promised to bring back those who migrated to other States and countries. “Our main agenda is to stop migrations from the State and every effort will be made for reverse-migration,” he said.
Meanwhile, YSRCP accused Lokesh of indulging in blatant lies, at a time when he was supposed to learn clean politics. “If Naidu had done so much good work for the people, why would they reject him in 2019 and why should Lokesh take to streets begging for votes?” senior YSRC leader and former minister Perni Nani said.
Stating that people won’t get carried away by Lokesh’s dialogues, the YSRCP leader said they were aware of what Jagan had done for their welfare. “In every field, Jagan has been providing a better administration than Naidu,” he asserted, adding that nobody could stop Jagan from returning to power for a second term.
