- By Nidhi Giri
- Wed, 12 Jun 2024 04:41 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Nara Lokesh, son of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu, has come a long way in the state politics. A dynamic young leader at 41, Nara Lokesh led the party from the front in the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh. After facing defeat in the Mangalagiri constituency in the 2019 State Assembly elections, Lokesh emerged victorious on the same seat in the recent Assembly polls by over 91,000 votes.
Fighting these polls in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Pawan Kalyan-led JanaSena Party (JSP), the TDP clinched a resounding victory, bagging 16 Lok Sabha seats and drubbing Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in the state.
Who Is Nara Lokesh
Born On January 23, 1983 in Telangana's Hyderabad, Nara Lokesh is the son of Nara Chandrababu Naidu and Nara Bhuvaneshwari. Notably, Lokesh is an MBA from Stanford University. His 3,000 km padyatra “Yuva Galam” helped him return to the helm of the TDP.
He was elected as a member of the Legislative Council (MLC) in 2017. Lokesh served as the IT minister in the last TDP government (2014-19). He also held the Panchayati Raj and Rural Development portfolios in the Naidu Cabinet between 2017 and 2019.
Nara Lokesh’s Comeback in Andhra Politics
From a “backroom boy”, Lokesh rose to the occasion during his father’s arrest in connection with an alleged AP Skill Development Corporation scam, in September last year.
A former MLC and minister in Andhra, Lokesh regularly visited his father in jail and ensured that the TDP’s campaign was not derailed. As per party insiders, the TDP leaders began to look up to Lokesh as a resilient leader after he held a meeting with the party workers in Vijayawada and followed it up with a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah to ensure the TDP chief’s release.
Meanwhile, N Chandrababu Naidu was sworn in as the chief minister at Kesarapalli IT Park near Gannavaram Airport on Wednesday. Accompanying Naidu, Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan also took the oath as a minister, marking his entry into the state cabinet.
The TDP won 135 seats in the 175-member Assembly on its own, reducing the YSRCP to 11 Assembly and four Lok Sabha seats.