ON the eve of Rahul Gandhi’s padayatra political commentator Neerja Chaudhuri made a pertinent observation in a televised discussion. Almost every politician who has undertaken a padayatra to canvas support has been politically rewarded, she observed. Citing the examples of N.T. Rama Rao’s Chaitanya Ratham, Lal Krishna Advani’s Rath Yatra, Chandrashekhar and Y.S. Rajashekhar Reddy’s padayatra and the latter’s son Jagan Mohan Reddy’s ‘Odarpu Yatra’, Chaudhuri made the valid point that direct connect with people always helps in. . .
