Monday, Feb 27, 2017

Hyderabad: The stage is set for another dynasty in south India as the ruling Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh has decided to field Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s only son in the elections to the state Legislative Council.

Once elected to the Upper House, Nara Lokesh’s inclusion in the state cabinet will be a mere formality, which will seal his position as heir to his father’s legacy.

A day after the party’s highest policymaking body, the politburo, urged Chandrababu Naidu to nominate his son, Lokesh himself thanked the party for the decision.

“Heartfelt thanks to TDP Politburo for believing in my capabilities & proposing my name as MLC. It is an opportunity to serve people closely,” he tweeted.

Party sources say the proposal to field him in the Legislative Council elections slated for March 20 came up because there was no vacancy in the 176 member Legislative Assembly.

“Making a member resign to make way for Nara Lokesh could have created heartburn,” a senior party leader said.

The politburo has left the final decision to Chandrababu.

Lokesh has been active in politics for some time.

He campaigned extensively in the 2014 elections, which brought the TDP to power in the truncated state of Andhra Pradesh.

He also holds the key position of general secretary in the party headed by his father and has been playing a major role in formulating its policies and programmes.

Speculation had been rife that the 67-year old Chandrababu was grooming his son to succeed him as head of the regional party, founded by Lokesh’s maternal grandfather N.T. Rama Rao. At one stage before 2014 elections speculations were rife that NTR’s son and another popular film star N. Balakrishna was also eyeing the leadership of the TDP.

But the potential power struggle in the family seems to have been avoided by the fact that Lokesh is married to Balakrishna’s daughter Brahmini.

What is happening in Andhra Pradesh is like a replay of developments in neighbouring Telangana where K. Taraka Rama Rao has already emerged as the second most powerful man in state politics and the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti party after his father and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

KCR, 63, has dropped sufficient hints that he is grooming Taraka Rama Rao as the future chief minister, and has allotted him several key portfolios including Information Technology, Industry and Municipal Administration.

Unlike Nara Lokesh, Taraka Rama Rao is likely to face a challenge from his cousin and another senior minister T Harish Rao when the issue a successor comes up.

By Mohammad Siddique Correspondent

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