Permission for Nara Lokesh’s ‘padayatra’ with riders

PNS|Vijayawada

Putting an end to 10-day suspense, the AP police on Monday, at last, gave permission to the commencement of the ‘padayatra’ of Telugu Desam Party general secretary Nara Lokesh with effect from January 27.

The Chittoor police gave permission to Lokesh to begin his padayatra from Kuppam town, the native assembly constituency of his father and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu. The 4,000 km long padayatra would continue for 400 days and end at Ichapuram in the Srikakulam district.

While granting permission, Chittoor superintendent of police Y Rishant Reddy. However, said it was subject to certain conditions.

He said Lokesh should strictly follow the restrictions imposed under the latest GO and should not make any provocative comments against the government or anybody. “If he violates any of these conditions, the police would take stringent action as per the law,” the SP said.

Though the police have given permission to the padayatra, it is not an easy task for Lokesh to brave the conditions because the police did not explicitly mention what the provocative comments would mean and they have kept the options open. If Lokesh makes any strong comments against Chief Mminister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy or his government, the local YSRC party leaders could complain and the police have the liberty to stall the ‘padayatra’.

The TDP leaders are in a jubilant mood and have started making preparations for the ‘padayatra’.