Padayatra (foot march), a time-tested strategy of politicians in Andhra Pradesh before and after bifurcation to come to power, is now all set to be tested by Jana Sena Party chief and power star Pawan Kalyan.
The strategy, initiated by late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy in 2003 that catapulted him to power in 2004 elections, was later followed by Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu in 2013 and it fetched him power in 2014 elections.
The same strategy was followed more vigorously by YSR Congress party chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in 2018 and he created a new record in padayatra by walking for over 3,600 km spanning over 14 months in Andhra Pradesh.
That fetched him tremendous mileage in 2019 elections with his party walking away with 151 out of 175 assembly seats and 22 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats. It beat all the previous records in such walkathons.
Now, Pawan Kalyan is learnt to have decided to follow the same path adopted by YSR, Naidu and Jagan.
According to highly placed sources, the power star wants to finish off all his commitments in Tollywood before end of 2022 and then go into the people straightaway till the announcement of next elections.
At present, Pawan is doing Vakeel Saab and remake of Ayyappanum Koshium, besides unnamed films of directors Krish and Harish Shankar. He is also expected to do a film for Ram Talluri.
While Vakeel Saab and remake of Ayyappanum.. will be released in 2021, films of Harish Shankar and Krish would be released in 2022. Ram Talluri’s film is yet to be finalised and is unlikely to happen, if Pawan wants to jump into direct action in politics.
It is learnt Pawan has decided to fight a now-or-never battle in 2024 elections in Andhra Pradesh in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party. His decision to take out padayatra reflects his determination to achieve his goal.
