Recent history bears this out. Whoever undertook a walkathon, criss-crossing the state in a massive public outreach, had walked his way to power and occupied the Chief Minister’s seat, be it in the combined or bifurcated state of AP.
In 2003, the 1470 km long historic walkathon by the charismatic Congress leader YS Rajasekhar Reddy became a turning point in his political career and propelled him to power in the Assembly elections held a year later.
Nearly 15 years later, his son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy stepped into his late father’s shoes, undertook a record-breaking 3,648 km long padayatra, spread over 341 days, and walked his way to power. Incidentally, like his father, he unseated Chandrababu Naidu from power in the 2019 assembly polls, using the mass outreach as an effective political tool.
Again, in January 2022, Chandrababu Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh, also the general secretary of the Telugu Desam Party, embarked on a 4,000-km long padayatra in the state, focused on attracting educated youth. This helped his party pull off a landslide victory in the 2024 assembly polls, unseating the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government from power.
Apparently keen to repeat the trend, Jagan Mohan Reddy has now announced that he would soon embark on a state-wide padayatra covering 150 Assembly constituencies.
He has positioned the initiative as “YSRCP 2.0,” emphasising grassroots mobilisation, direct public engagement, and a visceral dissection of the ruling TDP-led NDA coalition government on its promises.
The announcement comes at a time when the YSRCP is grappling with the erosion of its support base, after managing to win just 11 seats in the 175-member assembly in the 2024 elections, compared to the landslide 151-seat victory in 2019.
Jagan’s previous “Praja Sankalpa Padayatra”— a 3,648-km foot march from November 2017 to January 2019 — played a key role in building public sympathy and propelling the YSRCP to power.
By invoking a similar mass-contact strategy, Jagan appears to be betting on public discontent with the current government to engineer a political revival ahead of the 2029 assembly polls.
He accused the Chandrababu Naidu led coalition government of presiding over “misgovernance, corruption, and anarchy,” claiming that nearly two years and three budgets later, the government had failed to deliver on promises like the “Super Six” schemes.
He slammed the coalition government for scrapping or diluting welfare programmes introduced during his tenure. Jagan also pointed to a drastic drop in government school enrolment — from around 43 lakh to 33 lakh students — unpaid fee reimbursement dues worth thousands of crores, disruptions in mid-day meals, and the weakening of healthcare services like 108 and 104 ambulances.
In agriculture, he alleged farmers were deprived of zero-interest loans, crop insurance, minimum support prices, and subsidies, while law and order had collapsed, leading to unchecked illegal activities and threats to women’s safety.
Reddy asserted that public anger was mounting daily, with households increasingly reminiscing about better governance under YSRCP rule between 2019 and 2024.
With the NDA government still in its early phase and enjoying full backing from the Centre, Jagan is likely to tap into the perceived public resentment over unfulfilled promises or governance lapses.
The padayatra’s scale, covering 150 segments, signals an ambition to reclaim the support that had slipped away, particularly in rural and backward areas where welfare schemes had deep penetration during his rule.
The announcement has already sparked speculation about whether it could recreate the 2019 magic for him.
Also read: YSRCP slams Naidu over unfulfilled promises
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