Lokesh gets fuel at Karnataka filling station to highlight difference in prices

ANANTAPUR: Telugu Desam national general-secretary Nara Lokesh, on a padayatra, filled fuel to his convoy vehicles at a Karnataka pump on Monday while passing through Panthas Halli, a Karnataka village close to AP’s Chittoor district. His aim was to highlight the difference in fuel prices between AP and Karnataka.

On the fourth day of his Yuva Galam padayatra, Lokesh entered some of Karnataka’s border villages and re-entered AP to continue his journey.

Lokesh paid the fuel bill from his wallet and said, "While the price of petrol per litre in Karnataka is Rs 102, it is Rs 111.50 in AP. While the diesel in Karnataka costs Rs 88 per litre, it costs 99.27 in our state." He said Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was imposing an additional burden on the people by way of higher taxes on fuel.

Interacting with youths at the 'Hello Lokesh' programme organised at the GMR Kalyana Mandapam, Lokesh said that AP was moving on the progressive path for 67 years. “But, after Jagan Mohan Reddy became the Chief Minister, the state is fast moving in the reverse direction," Lokesh stated.

He said the jobless youth were migrating to the neighbouring states in search of employment.

Earlier, Lokesh had a meeting with the Vaddera union at Gandhara Madanapalle where the members of the community said that there is no recognition for them either economically or politically. Lokesh agreed that the Vaddera community should be included in the ST list and not in the BC list.

The TD leader felt an immediate need for launching welfare schemes for the Vaddera community and promised, “Once the TD returns to power, necessary steps will be taken to resolve your problems.”

He said Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy's visit to Delhi was aimed at saving his brother and party MP Avinash Reddy from the charges that he was facing. “Anybody could guess as to who killed Jagan's paternal uncle Vivekananda Reddy,” he said.