Chandrababu Naidu to undertake march to regain power

 Telugu Desam Party president

and former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu

Naidu will soon take to the streets on foot in his quest to

regain power."I will begin my 'paadayatra' (foot march) on October

2 from Hindupur in Anantapur district. What can be a more

auspicious day than Gandhiji's birth anniversary to launch the

yatra," Naidu formally told the Telugu Desam rank and file at

the party's extended general body meeting at the NTR Bhavan

here this afternoon.He suggested two names-? Jana Chaitanyam (people's

awakening) and Vastunna?Mee Kosam (I am coming? for you) ? for

the yatra and asked the party cadre to finalise an appropriate

one.Naidu hit upon the 'paadayatra' idea last month but

many tried to dissuade him from taking it up saying it would

be like walking in the footsteps of his staunch political

rival (late) Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, whose 1700km foot march in

2003 rode the Congress to power in 2004, party sources said.But he remained steadfast and told senior leaders in

his party that he would go ahead with his plan.The party then started working on the details and

chalked out a route map covering all three regions of the

state. Though initially party leaders wanted Chandrababu to

begin the yatra from Telangana region, the latter finally

settled for Hindupur in Rayalaseema region, a stronghold of

the TDP that was earlier represented by the party's

founder-president N T Rama Rao, they said.The Leader of Opposition is expected to cover over

2,000 km in 117 days covering about 13 out of 23 districts of

the state in the first round.In 2007-08, the TDP chief undertook a state-wide tour

Mee Kosam (for you) ahead of the 2009 elections but could not

return to power despite forging a grand alliance with the Left

parties and the TRS. He also undertook a foot march (not full

length, though) for the farmers' cause last year but that

did not ostensibly pay any political dividends.Now, the 30-year-old party is facing a much bigger

threat to its political existence with the Telangana factor on

one hand and the Jagan factor on the other eroding its base in

the three regions of the state.