Jaganmohan Reddy walks his father’s steps, long trek brings him to power

VIJAYAWADA: The padayatras - marathon walks - have played a crucial role in Andhra Pradesh politics, bringing those undertaking these treks to the corridors of power.
It was the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the then leader of Opposition in the undivided Andhra Pradesh, who introduced the idea of padayatra in 2003. Congress was in Opposition for two successive terms in 1994 and 1999.They had lost 1994 elections and had to sit in Opposition with the late P Janardhan Reddy (PJR) as the leader of Opposition and Rajasekhara Reddy was in the Lok Sabha representing Kadapa.

In 1999, it was expected that Congress was winning with a number of activities executed by Janardhan Reddy as leader of Opposition.
In fact, PJR went to Delhi to lobby for the chief minister post, but the party lost this election too and Rajasekhara Reddy, who contested from Pulivendla assembly constituency, became the leader of Opposition.
When the ruling TDP advanced the elections in 2004, Congress was not prepared for the early elections. However, Rajasekhara Reddy took up the idea of a mass contact programme through a padayatra, which was named as Praja Prasthanam. He then launched his marathon walk from Chevella in Ranga Reddy district and walked all the way to Itchapuram in Srikakulam district. This walk had brought him to power in the subsequent 2004 elections and he became a darling of the masses, which again put him in power in 2009.
Then it was the turn of the TDP president Chandrababu Naidu to take up this mass contact programme and he started his walk Vastunna Meekosam from Hindupur in Anantapur district and concluded it in Visakhapatnam city.
He started the walk in 2012 and concluded it in 2013 and this massive walk had brought him to power after sitting in opposition for two successive terms - 2004 and 2009. The state was facing several political crisis during this period with the Telangana movement at its peak and the state was set for bifurcation when Naidu was on the roads walking all the way covering 16 districts in the undivided AP.
Kadapa Congress MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy differed with the Congress leadership and quit the party and floated his own outfit YSR Congress, after his father Rajasekhara Reddy’s death in 2009. He had won the by-elections in 2012 and fought a tough battle in 2014 to make it to the hot seat.
He lost the 2014 elections by a small margin and won 67 assembly seats. After 23 MLAs left him and joined TDP, Jagan undertook a padayatra and named it as Praja Sankalpa Yatra and started it from Idupulapaya in Kadapa district and concluded it at Ichapuram in Srikakulam district.
There was one more walk by YS Sharmila, daughter of the late Rajasekhara Reddy and sister of Jagan. She walked from Idupulapaya to Ichapuram covering close to 3,000 km, when Jagan was in jail following the CBI cases. After this historical walk, she saw her brother coming out of the jail and taking over the mantle.