The YCP came to power on the strength of the State-wide Padayatra of Jaganmohan Reddy. He drew inspiration from his father YSR whose Padayatra brought Congress to power in 2004. Many YCP leaders have held Padayatras in the footsteps of the YSR family members. Now, Vijay Sai Reddy began his Padayatra in Vizag and asserted his commitment to saving the steel plant from privatisation.

Jagan Reddy made a lot of promises during his Padayatra but after coming to power, he was not being able to fulfill most of them. Vijay Sai Reddy made controversial statements in the beginning itself and he indicated broadly that the VSP privatisation was unstoppable. At one stage, he said he would get the Prime Minister’s appointment for the agitators but would not guarantee a positive outcome.

On his part, CM Jagan said that he wanted to bring the Posco company to Kadapa or Krishnapatnam or Bhavanapadu but Vizag did not come up in the list. At the same time, he suggested the sale of 7,000 acres of land to VSP to solve its financial problems.

As it is, Vijay Sai has been known for his close relations with Modi-Shah at the Centre. Everytime the YCP is in a crisis, the MP would be seen knocking on the doors of the Union Ministers to get relief. This time, Vijay Sai is preferring Padayatra to lobbying in Delhi. The question is whether the people will believe in the Padayatras of political leaders any longer if they go on adopting double standards.