Will Keep Walking Till Congress Government Falls: Telangana BJP MP Launches Padayatra

Hyderabad (TG): BJP MP Eatala Rajender has escalated his political confrontation with the Congress government, declaring that he will continue his padayatra not only to demand the removal of the Jawaharnagar dumping yard but also until the Revanth Reddy government is ousted.Responding sharply to Congress leaders who allegedly accuse him of having no work and merely wandering around, the Malkajgiri MP said: "The Congress party holds a press conference every three days and claims that this MP has no work. If they think I am wandering around without work, remember, I will continue doing the same work until your government is overthrown."Against the backdrop of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's high-profile padayatra in Hyderabad on November 2, organised by the Telangana BJP under the slogan "Loktantra Bachao, Arachakata Hatao" (Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy), the remarks made during Rajender's four-day, 60-km Jawaharnagar Jan Sankalpa Yatra have given the BJP's campaign a wider political dimension.Rajender launched the march from Edulabad on October 27, highlighting alleged pollution caused by the Jawaharnagar dumping yard.The political significance of the march has been heightened by BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao's announcement of a proposed statewide padayatra in 2027. KTR has said the exercise would help reconnect the party with people and address public grievances.Telugu political history offers several important precedents linked to padyatra politics.Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's nearly 1,470-km Padayatra in 2003 preceded the Congress party's victory in the 2004 elections. Later, N. Chandrababu Naidu's 2,817-km Vastunna Meekosam march (2012-13) was followed by the TDP's return to power in 2014.Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy's 3,648-km Praja Sankalpa Yatra (2017-19) preceded the YSRCP's landslide victory in 2019. The TDP returned to power later after Nara Lokesh undertook the Yuva Galam padayatra.Ahead of the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections, Revanth Reddy, then president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC), embarked on a major statewide padayatra.With Eatala Rajender's confrontation with the Congress government and KTR's proposed march, padayatra politics is once again emerging as a prominent feature of Telangana's political landscape, where Assembly elections are due in 2028.