At last, the marathon padayatra of YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy came to an end with a public meeting at Ichapuram in Srikakulam district on Wednesday.
Christened as “Praja Sankalpa Yatra,” the walkathon began at Idupulapaya in Kadapa district on November 6, 2017 after paying homage to his father Y S Rajasekhar Reddy’s Samadhi.
It was the longest padayatra ever taken by any politician. Jagan has covered 3648 kms in 341 days over a period of 429 days.
He has visited 134 assembly constituencies and more than 2500 villages, across all 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh.
Now, political analysts are wondering whether any other politician will dare beat this record padayatra of Jaganmohan Reddy.
Forget about physical and mental strength, one should have the “sankalpam” (will power) to take up such a yatra that went on for more than 14 months. It was marathon, except for the mandatory breaks for the court cases every week.
The question is which politician in the contemporary Andhra history has such will power. For the present-day leaders, who are used to travel in special flights these days, walking for such a long distance and such a long duration is really impossible.
“Some leaders in future may try this time-tested path of walking long distances to reach out to the people, but this record of Jagan is insurmountable by any means.
“It will take yet another generation to make any such attempt. But by that time, there would be major changes in the political system and one might not be willing to take such a risk. So, it is going to be a record for a long time to come,” an analyst said.
