No small feet: Reddy visited more than 2,500 villages and met two crore people on his padyatra.
ON A RECENT weekend, a low-cost flight from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam had a special passenger in the front row—YSR Congress president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Almost every passenger boarding the flight stopped for a selfie with the man, and many party leaders, too, jostled with each other to get close to him. The flight took off, but not before Jagan appealed to the passengers to not inconvenience the airline staff.
The flight landed safely in Visakhapatnam, a place where, a few months ago, someone had slashed Reddy’s shoulder with a knife. The attacker had missed Reddy’s neck by inches, sparing him his life. Predictably, the incident had political repercussions. But, how did it affect him personally? “I strongly believe in destiny,” Reddy told THE WEEK. “Somebody with an evil intent wants to alter that destiny, [but] God is there to take care of it. There is no point in having fear in my mind and not doing what I am supposed to do. The knife reached the lounge only because the attacker was working in a restaurant in the airport, which belongs to Telugu Desam Party sympathiser Harshavardhan Chowdary. He is close to Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s son, Lokesh. The attacker was employed without a no objection certificate from the police, despite having an attempt-to-murder case on him. The Andhra Pradesh Police do not want to probe who is behind the attack.”
A few days later, on January 9, Reddy made history. He completed his 3,600km Praja Sankalpa Yatra at Ichchapuram near the Odisha border. Over 14 months, Reddy walked through more than 2,500 villages and met two crore people. Though he is the third in his family—after sister Sharmila and father and former chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy—to embark on a padyatra, his was the longest, both in terms of distance and duration. To mark the completion of the walk, a special 88-foot pylon was unveiled in Ichchapuram.
The padyatra was challenging, and the aim was to walk an average of 15km daily, come what may. “A padyatra changes you, makes you more human,” said Reddy. “For the past 14 months, I have been doing the same thing day in and day out, being with the downtrodden and understanding their plight. I will miss the affection of the people.”
The walk can be broadly divided into two phases—pre- and post-attack. Before the knifing last October, the YSR Congress highlighted people’s issues and demanded special category status by being on the ground. The TDP, on the other hand, worked on strengthening its position and countering its opponents. However, after the attack, there was a tectonic shift in the political landscape of Andhra Pradesh.
It began with Naidu’s news conference immediately after the attack. He mocked the situation, and said it was a conspiracy hatched by the YSR Congress and the BJP to destabilise the state. However, as investigating officials are yet to find anything that could incriminate the opposition, Naidu’s credibility was damaged. Soon after, Naidu joined hands with the Congress, but was thrashed in the recent Telangana elections. This not only harmed Naidu’s image in Telangana, but also weakened his position in his own state. Naidu then sent feelers to old ally Pawan Kalyan, who did not reciprocate, choosing instead to go it alone.
All this while, crowds at the padyatra surged. “Even now, at least five or six people come up to me at every place and ask me if my wound has healed,” said Reddy. “This affection led me to walk this distance.”
After the attack, YSR Congress leaders asked why the CCTV cameras at the airport stopped working the moment Reddy reached Visakhapatnam. They even approached the court and the case was soon handed over to the National Investigation Agency, creating the impression that the local police were acting under pressure and dragging their feet.
All this has Reddy upbeat. He seems certain of winning the upcoming state elections, which are to be held alongside the Lok Sabha polls. And, with good reason. When he landed at the Visakhapatnam airport for the first time after the attack, chants of “CM, CM” greeted him.
Reddy’s math is simple—in 2014, despite the best efforts of the TDP, the BJP and Pawan Kalyan’s Janasena Party, his party lost by a slim margin. This time, with severe anti-incumbency and the impact of his padyatra, he said, Naidu would not win even if he joined the Congress or returned to the Janasena. The chances are slimmer if the TDP contests alone; under Naidu, the party has never won elections without a tie-up.
“When Naidu tied up with the BJP in 2014, he said that if you were voting for Jagan, then you were voting for Rahul [Gandhi],” said Reddy. “He married the BJP and they lived together for four years and did nothing for the state. Now, one year before the elections, he divorces the BJP and immediately ties up with the Congress. He shamelessly says that if you vote for Jagan, you are voting for the BJP. The irony is that it was not Jagan who was part of tie-ups with any of these parties. Naidu ties up with parties of his choice and throws mud on the others. That is his character and credibility.”
Across the state border, Naidu’s other rival, K. Chandrashekar Rao, recently won a thumping majority in the Telangana elections. Did that victory bring Reddy and Rao closer? “Morally, support from KCR is welcome and will be helpful for Andhra Pradesh,” said Reddy. “The demand for special category status is being voiced by 25 MPs of our state and [it would be better] if 17 Telangana MPs were to add to it. What is wrong in having a friend?”
Speaking of friends, there has been talk about alliances ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. And though Reddy remained non-committal about his part in a federal front, he said that if his party had the numbers, it would support a coalition that could give Andhra special status.
For now, however, Reddy continues to walk. After the 3,600km padyatra, he climbed 3,600 steps to reach the Tirumala Temple, to seek the blessings of Lord Venkateswara.