Was Lokesh Waiting for Naidu’s Bail to Resume Yatra?

Visakhapatnam: As the TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu has been granted bail in the multi-crore skill development scam case by the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday, reports emerge that the party’s general secretary and Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh is expected to resume his Yuva Galam Padayatra soon. 

The TDP leader had abruptly suspended the mass contact programme on September 9 after his father was arrested by the police in the skill development scam case. The yatra had entered Razole of Konaseema district when the TDP leader called it off and the party is planning to resume the foot march from the same place.

The padayatra, which began in January this year, was earlier planned to conclude at Ichchapuram, however, the TDP leadership has made changes to the route map of yatra and Lokesh will reportedly end his foot march in Visakhapatnam. It’s not clear why the opposition party has chosen Visakhapatnam to bring down curtains on the yatra. 

Following Naidu’s arrest and subsequent judicial remand, Lokesh   bypassed many senior leaders in the party and assumed the second-in-command position in Naidu’s absence. He went to New Delhi and hired the country's best lawyers like Sidharth Luthra and Harish Salve to fight his father’s case. 

Lokesh stayed put in the national capital for weeks meeting the leaderships of various mainstream political parties but miserably failed in getting their support against Naidu’s arrest in the corruption case. He has reportedly held several secret meetings with various political parties. 

The TDP allegedly attempted to hold a meeting with the Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy, who was once the closest aide of Naidu in the neighbouring state. The TDP-friendly section of media has started promoting the upcoming yatra of Lokesh. 

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