Lokesh for total recall of young
HYDERABAD: Not so long ago, Nara Chandrababu Naidu and his Telugu Desam were seen as representative of the youth ' heralding an IT boom and various institutions and schemes meant to benefit them in terms of employment and education.
Ironically, ahead of the 2014 elections, the biggest weak link for the party has turned out to be this very section ' first-time voters in the age group of 18-23 and the youth (24-35).
Having already sensed this gap, backroom managers of the TDP are preparing an exhaustive programme to capture the imagination of the voters falling in these two groups and the one who will be driving this is Lokesh, son of Chandrababu Naidu.
But for his occasional tweets when he takes on political rivals, Lokesh has largely remained in the background so far except for a brief campaign he undertook months ago in the family's native Chittoor district.
He will, however, have a busy schedule ahead beginning December and ending in February with college-going students and youth ' divided into urban and rural ' as the chief focus of the campaign.
Contours of the upcoming programme have been discussed during the interactive sessions Lokesh has been having with young leaders from various districts and it will be given a final shape in the next two weeks.
In one component of the programme, he will be addressing one big student convention in each district under the aegis of the Telugu Nadu Student Federation (TNSF).
The other component will revolve around youth but how to go about addressing this section is an aspect the TDP managers are still in the process of thrashing out. 'The entire programme will last 70-75 days before students get busy with examinations.
It will essentially be a positive campaign - focussing on what the TDP did while it was in power and how it intends to create more opportunities for education and employment if it comes to power,' said a TDP source engaged in fine-tuning the campaign model.
On occasions, Lokesh would point out how the Congress regime created SEZs under the pretext of generating employment but in the end, how they actually turned out to be real estate projects.
TDP managers admit that the disconnect between the TDP and the youth exists, particularly those in the rural belts.
They are also of the view that first-time voters have not been witness to what the TDP government did to attract big companies and thereby, generate employment when it was in power.
'Recalling the good work done by us in the past and promising better future for the youth should help us in bridging the gap,' one of them said.
News Posted: 11 November, 2013
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