All eyes on youth: TDP leader Nara Lokesh to start Yuva Galam from Jan 27

Amaravati: Gearing up for the 2024 Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) general secretary Nara Lokesh announced his state-wide padayatra titled 'Yuva Galam' from January 27. He will be covering 4,000 km from Kuppam to Ichchapuram in 400 days.The pada yatra will begin from Kuppam, the Assembly constituency in Chittoor, represented by Chandrababu Naidu.

On Wednesday, Lokesh announced through his Twitter handle, 'I am coming, 30 days to Go, #YuvaGalam.' The title Yuva Galam means a platform for the youth. TDP has picked up the slogan 'Let's Walk with Lokesh. Let's Walk for a better Andhra Pradesh'. A short video has been released by the TDP explaining the agenda of the pada yatra.

Giving details about the pada yatra, TDP's Andhra Pradesh unit president K. Acchannaidu said that the pada yatra is to mobilise the youth to participate in the agenda-setting process and raise their voices to express their opinions. Lokesh will interact with people from various sections of society to know their problems. He said that the route map would be announced soon.

According to sources, the idea to launch pada yatra through Lokesh came during the TDP's ongoing Idhem Kharma Mana Rashtraniki campaign when a large number of young people have been raising issues in the state that they would not have raised otherwise.

Speaking about the unemployed youth, the TDP leader said, "The state has been suffering for the last 3.5 years. One person commits suicide every 4 days because of unemployment. With over 1.5 crore unemployed, our state has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. With skyrocketing fuel prices, we are leading the country's charts in paying the highest prices for petrol and diesel".

Adding to it, he said that due to backtracked development and a lack of investments in the state, the future of youth in the state is at a crossroads.