Bengaluru: Karnataka JD(S), after facing humiliating defeat in the recently-contested Lok Sabha election, is busy preparing strategies to make its presence felt. Despite being in power, JD(S) has lost its base and the party is following in the footsteps of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jaganmohan Reddy to find solution to the current crisis.  

After winning just 38 seats in the Assembly elections held in May last year and one seat in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections, JD(S) is all set for a padayatra (walkathon) across Karnataka. JD(S) campaigning committee chief YSV Datta has chalked out a basic plan for the walkathon. 

The party has decided on meeting three conditions: reaching out to people emotionally, strengthening the party from grass-root level, and spreading mass appeal among people. 

The plan looks like the replica of what Jaganmohan Reddy had done in Andhra Pradesh, before the Assembly election. Jagan had set out on a 3,648 km padayatra for 14 months to get closer to the people of the state. 

Jagan had started the walkathon titled 'Praja Sankalpa Yatra' on November 6, 2017. In 341 days, he had walked to 130 out of 175 Assembly constituencies, had taken part in more than 124 meetings and had held 55 community meetings. 

The trend was started by YSR Congress Party’s (YSRCP's) YS Rajasekhara Reddy, who conducted the walkathon and defeated Chandrababu Naidu in 2004 Assembly election in Andhra Pradesh. But after the death of YSR Reddy in 2009, Naidu came back to power. 

Jagan had worked for his father in his campaigns, but did not have much political experience when his father died. But his decision to conduct this walkathon was criticised by Naidu's Telugu Desam Party. Despite this, Jagan continued his 341-day walkathon and completed the yatra in January this year. 

Out of 175 Assembly seats, YSRCP won 151 seats and swept Andhra Pradesh, making Jaganmohan Reddy the chief minister.

Recently, Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil met Jagan and said that he was inspired after talking to the Andhra chief minister. In fact, Nikhil has started making visits to party workers’ homes and Kuamarswamy is back with his earlier concept of village stay.

Will this work for the JD(S) to fight against the Modi wave in Karnataka?