Nara Lokesh As TDP Working President? Father Chandrababu Naidu Says...

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has finally reacted to reports of his son Nara Lokesh's possible promotion as the working president of the Telugu Desam Party.

In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Mr Naidu said, “Youth has to come.”

Speaking about his 42-year-old son, Chandrababu Naidu said that he had explained to Nara Lokesh that politics is a different field and he should join it only if he wanted to “serve the people.”

The Andhra Pradesh CM added that Nara Lokesh has to “prove it (his commitment to serving people), he is proving, he is working hard.”

“After dialogue and discussion, he [Nara Lokesh] decided to join politics. My daughter-in-law, also from Stanford, is looking after the family business. You want to serve the people. He has [to] prove it, he is proving, he is working hard. Let him do it,” he said.

Nara Lokesh is an MLA from the Mangalagiri constituency in Guntur district. He holds important portfolios in the TDP government, such as information technology and human resource development. He has been the TDP's National General Secretary since 2015.

Rumours of Nara Lokesh's likely elevation emerged at the TDP's annual conclave, held from May 27 to 29.

The proposal to make Nara Lokesh the party's working president was supported by several senior leaders, ministers and MLAs on the second day of the conclave. However, no such announcement was made by the TDP leadership. The event was held in the Kadapa district, which was once a stronghold of the YSR Congress Party.

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On TDP Being Youngest Party In Parliament

Chandrababu Naidu also mentioned that TDP is the youngest party in Parliament, giving the example of Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu. The 37-year-old politician is the youngest member of the current cabinet.

He added, “All are educated now, even including [Nara] Lokesh. He has a good background. He is a Stanford graduate. IT and Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University. I asked him, "If you want to do family business, you can do it.”

Chandrababu Naidu highlighted that he had often seen “old politicians” with “old thinking”. He underlined his party's commitment to political reform.

Mr Naidu cited founder N T Rama Rao's (NTR) example to illustrate TDP's history of giving chances to young, educated people. The veteran politician added that many highly educated individuals were joining politics now, a sharp difference from before.