TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh on Monday asked Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to explain how the initial suicide theory turned into rape in the Tejaswini case.

Lokesh said that all possible efforts were being made to protect the YSRCP culprits who were responsible for the ‘rape and murder’ of pharmacy student Tejaswini at Gorantla in Sri Satya Sai district.

Lokesh recalled how the local DSP wasted no time to announce it as a ‘suicide’ even before the post mortem report arrived. Did the DSP do that only to see joy in the eyes of the CM and YCP leaders?

Lokesh said that the Chief Minister and his Ministers should at least open their eyes and realise that the TDP’s so-called noise was not meaningless. Would the CM respond in the same indifferent way if their children became victims of a similar crime?

Lokesh asked how the DSP concerned could make a hasty announcement when Tejaswini’s parents were clearly saying that their daughter was raped and then killed. No doubt, the suicide theory was aimed at rescuing the YSRCP ‘Dandupalyam gang’ from punishment.

The TDP MLC expressed concern that while Jagan Reddy was looting the public through the sand and liquor mafia, his own relatives were competing with him by carrying out extortions in Pulivendula. Jagan close relative Y.S. Konda Reddy tried to extort huge money from a construction company which was carrying out development works in the CM’s own segment.

Lokesh said the common public should guess what would be the situation in other parts of the State when the Chief Minister’s own assembly constituency witnessed threats and extortion by his own relatives. At least now, the Government should take serious action against the gangsters and fraudsters who were looting the general public.

TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh on Monday asserted that whatever statements made by Telangana Minister K.T. Rama Rao on the prevailing situation in Andhra Pradesh were all facts. “There is no power, no water and no roads. The media people are suffering more and they are getting spondylitis because of potholes. I know four reporters who have been taken ill because of this,” said Lokesh.

During his visit to Kurnool, Nara Lokesh called on the family members of Rajavardhan Reddy who passed away in an accident. The TDP would stand by the side of the family of Rajavardhan who quit the IT profession to become an MPP and even studied law to fight legal battles on behalf of the public.

Replying to questions at a press conference on the occasion, Lokesh said the ruling YSRCP leaders first attacked the opposition TDP and then the general public. Now, they started attacking even the neighbouring State Ministers just for telling facts about the AP people’s suffering. The TDP had never resorted to such attacks or criminal activities.

Lokesh asserted that even on the issue of Vanajakshi during the TDP rule, Chandrababu Naidu did not suspend her. A committee was appointed and action was taken based on its report. But, the Jagan regime did not appoint any committee on the remarks made by Dalit doctor Dr Sudhakar. He was victimised, branded as insane and driven to death just for asking for a face mask.

Lokesh recalled how later Rajavardhan Reddy worked hard to strengthen the TDP in Kurnool. From now on, only hard workers and fighters would have a future in the TDP. Tickets would be given to only those who would come out and fight on behalf of the people. Those staying in the AC rooms would have no future.

The TDP MLC said that Jagan Mohan Reddy had made huge promises to develop Kurnool as a judicial capital. But in the past three years, not even land was acquired for the High Court building. The Chief Minister had failed to even take it up with the Chief Justice during their recent meeting. It was the TDP which brought a mega seed park, two cement factories and solar parks in Kurnool.

Lokesh said after the next Mahanadu, he would undertake field visits to all the irrigation projects to expose the YCP Government failures. Jagan Reddy had done nothing to help the farmers in any region of the State. The TDP regime came up with the Pattiseema project so as to ensure water supply to both Rayalaseema and Coastal districts even during dry spells.

Nara Lokesh is all set to embark upon a massive Padayatra starting from August. The Padayatra, according to the TDP sources, is going to be record-shattering. The TDP ranks feel that such massive yatra alone will be able to channelize the anti-YSRCP mood among the people. The yatra, if sources are to be believed, will start from Chandrababu’s home turf of Kuppam.

The yatra would be year-long but with three to four breaks in between. Originally, the idea was to take up a yatra in April or May, but this idea was abandoned in view of the oppressive heat during that season. Hence a cooler August is being preferred for the yatra.

The chief aim of the yatra is to project Nara Lokesh as a credible alternative to YS Jagan. Lokesh has suffered severe damage to his image after he lost the MLA elections in the 2019 elections to a relatively unknown Alla Ramakrishna Reddy in Mangalagiri. Also, the gaffes in Lokesh Babu’s speeches and some of his controversial comments have seriously dented his image. It is to refurbish his image that the yatra is being planned.

Padayatras have been passports to political success in Andhra Pradesh. In fact, late YSR started this and his Praja Prasthanam catapulted him to power. Later, Chandrababu undertook Padayatra and came to power in 2014. Jagan and Sharmila’s padayatra took YS Jagan to the portals of power. Will Lokesh Babu’s padayatra too do the same thing for Lokesh? Let’s want and see how things pan out.

The political watchers are increasingly realising that over the last one month, the name of Lokesh is not creating any buzz. He has not been speaking much and there are no statements from him. During this period, he hasn’t made it to the news media headlines too. Despite being the national general secretary of the TDP,, his visibility has come down considerably.

Time was when Lokesh used to be the first one to descend on any town where a TDP worker is harassed. He would go and console the kin of the harassed TDP worker. These days, the news about Lokesh is confined to Mangalagiri assembly constituency only. Time was when he used to land in any place from Srikakulam to Kadapa to remain by the side of the party workers.

The last time that Lokesh was heard was when he undertook a tour to his home turf of Kuppam. Soon after, the party was badly defeated in the municipal elections in Kuppam. He wasn’t present even during the review meetings held to analyse the causes of the defeat.

Interestingly, there are reports that several seniors have indicated that they would rather prefer to work with Chandrababu Naidu and not under Lokesh Babu. Also,reports say that there is a perceptional difference between the father and son..While Chandrababu, who is a veteran of many election battles, feels that the TDP should have alliance with other parties to win the next elections, Lokesh strongly opines that the TDP should go it alone. It remains to be seen as to how Lokesh rediscovers himself and bounces back. 

In the whole episode of TDP General Secretary Lokesh Babu’s arrest in Guntur, know who is the happiest? The TDP cadres. Yes. Unbelievable but true. The TDP is happy that finally they have got an issue to fight for. There’s a leader who is not arrested for past deeds like botched up dairies, sold out land deals.

Here was Lokesh, who was arrested for consoling a bereaved family. The girl was brutally murdered by a maniac youth who was spurned by her. This in itself evoked a lot of sympathy. When Lokesh went to console them, why should the YSRCP government arrest him? By arresting him, the YSRCP government lost some sympathy and Lokesh gained a lot of support.

Moreover, the way the police treated Lokesh too has created sympathy for Lokesh. He was held by the collar, dragged away and bundled into the police vehicle. All this has created sympathy for Lokesh. Also, shifting of Lokesh from one police station to another and registering a case very late have also turned out to be beneficial for Lokesh. The spontaneous protests across the state are an indication that the YSRCP has handed a potent weapon to the TDP. Hence the TDP cadres are happy.

Even YSRCP insiders feel that the police were over-enthusiastic and that there was no need to arrest Lokesh. By arresting Lokesh, many feel that the YSRCP scored a self-goal. This has given the TDP cadres, who were low on morale and down in the dumps all these days, a powerful stick to beat the YSRCP.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national General Secretary Nara Lokesh on Wednesday said a website, itdpblog.com, has been launched to protect the party’s cadres.

“The itdpblog.com website has been designed for the protection of party activists. This is another step in the direction of standing by the TDP family,” said Lokesh.

The TDP’s second-in-command said that the platform will empower the party activists to expose the alleged atrocities of YSRCP leaders on social media as well as bringing to light the difficulties of people and solving them.

He advised the opposition party activists to make use of the WhatsApp phone number listed on the website to alert in the event of any trouble from the police or YSRCP supporters.

“Along with legal help, the party will stand by you in all ways. To save people from the atrocious rule of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, all TDP activists should take part in this,” he said.