Another son is set to rise on the country’s political horizon. Nara Lokesh, the only son of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, is set to join his father’s Cabinet soon. This was revealed by Naidu himself when he was closeted with leaders of Telugu Desam Party from Telangana in Amaravati on Thursday. The induction may happen before the Budget session of the Assembly next month.
The Telangana TDP leaders were asking Naidu to spare Lokesh, who is currently the national general secretary of the party, to strengthen the party in the state where it is in opposition. But Naidu told them that Lokesh would soon be inducted into his Cabinet and that the party leaders would have to fend for themselves in Telangana.
Presently, Lokesh is not a member of either Houses of the legislature. But there are several offers from TDP MLAs and MLCs to vacate their seats for his sake.
Lokesh’s elevation as a Cabinet minister was on cards since last year and there were indications that it would happen before Dushehra in October 2016. But Naidu dropped the plans as the timing for the elevation was considered wrong. Moreover, Lokesh was entrusted with the responsibility of leading TDP in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls held in February last year.
TDP put up a miserable show in the civic polls, but the importance of Lokesh hasn’t gone down in the party. Moreover, he was allotted key tasks of coordinating the activities of the party MLAs, MLCs and ministers at the party office. Lokesh heads a crucial trust of the party workers’ welfare fund.
Lokesh also has the responsibility of coordinating the activities of the TDP MPs during the current session of Parliament. All the MPs including two Union Ministers—Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Sujana Chowdary—were present at a meeting presided over by Lokesh, where he told them to focus on certain issues like securing statutory status for the economic package announced for AP.
Naidu was facing criticism from the opposition parties that Lokesh has been meddling with the affairs of the government and that senior ministers and officials are dictated by him. “If he (Lokesh) becomes a minister, such criticism will not be there,” said a senior minister, while talking to this newspaper.
The MPs were instructed to meet the CM only after they had a meeting with Lokesh. The 34-year-old Lokesh, who obtained his MBA from Stanford Business School in the US, is married to his cousin and only daughter of Tollywood actor and TDP MLA N. Balakrishna, the son of the late N.T. Rama Rao.