Emerging from shadows to glare: Nara Lokesh proves detractors wrong, for now

Hyderabad: A competitive mood was palpable when Telugu Desam cadres across Andhra Pradesh celebrated party general secretary and state HRD Minister Nara Lokesh’s 42nd birthday on January 23. Social media was flooded with greetings while local dailies were awash with ‘best wishes’ advertisements. In many places, cakes weighing 42 kg were cut and distributed among the public by upbeat party workers.

Amid this lavish display of loyalty, several leaders and workers clamoured for elevating the birthday boy, the only son of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, to the deputy CM chair. The top leadership, which was enjoying the chorus for the TDP heir apparent until then, stepped in quickly and issued a diktat to stop all kinds of discussions on the subject. The whole episode unravels how tricky it is for the party — read Naidu — to raise the stature of Lokesh in Andhra's  political landscape, which is witnessing a sharp right-turn under Deputy CM and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan.  

While Lokesh gaining popularity and ‘Power Star’ Kalyan ascending to power happened almost parallelly, the former had a tough start despite coming from the TDP first family. In the early stages of his political career, the Stanford business graduate faced mockery for his “soft image” and Telugu speeches. His political acumen came under doubt after he lost his debut election, from Mangalagiri, in 2019. He also endured body-shaming and trolls, earning unflattering nicknames like “Andhra Pappu”. Even senior party leaders ridiculed him discreetly.

In an old TV interview, Lokesh could be seen claiming that such personal attacks didn’t affect him and he was determined to prove his mettle. Cut to 2025, he appears to have gained the acceptance of TDP cadres and his electorate in Mangalagiri, which gave him a decisive mandate in the 2024 Assembly polls. At this juncture, there is nobody within the ruling party to question his rise. And with his father turning 75 – Naidu will be almost 80 at the end of the current government’s term – the baton of the party is most likely to be passed on to the son.

Future challenges, if any, will most likely come from the TDP’s two allies in the government: Kalyan and the BJP. Given his recent entry into electoral politics, it will be premature to guess how Lokesh will steer a TDP sans his father. However, his transformation since 2019 gives some hints about the future of the young political dynast.

TDP’s, and his own, humiliating defeat at the hands of YSRCP in 2019 was a turning point in the political career of Lokesh. The crisis reached a peak in 2023 when the Andhra Pradesh CID arrested Naidu for alleged corruption. With his father behind bars for around 50 days, Lokesh successfully managed to keep the party united.

“The Yuva Galam Padayatra and YSRCP supremo Jagan Mohan Reddy deserve credit for his transformation. There is a saying ‘gold shines brighter when put on fire’. Given the onslaught on TDP by Jagan when he was the CM, Lokesh has faced it all and come out rugged. I feel he has all the abilities to lead TDP,” Prof DAR Subramanyam, political commentator and chairman of Navyandhra Intellectuals Forum told DH.

Yuva Galam impact

Padayatras have been a tried-and-tested formula to win back power in Telugu politics. Before ascending the throne in 2019, Jagan had undertaken a 341-day long foot march across the state. In January 2023, more than a year before the polls, Lokesh, too, embarked on a padayatra. Named ‘Yuva Galam’ (Voice of the Youth), the foot march covered more than 3,000 km, touching as many as 100 Assembly constituencies.

Carrying a small ‘red book’, apparently containing the names of officials who caused hurdles to the TDP, Lokesh wore an aggressive tone during his padayatra, cautioning officials of immediate action once his party came to power after the election. The foot march saw the TDP scion transforming himself from a soft and inaccessible person to a tough and assertive mass leader. Yuva Galam also came at the right time. TDP cadres were directionless after the 2019 debacle — the party’s worst performance since it was founded by film star-turned-political stalwart NT Rama Rao, popularly known as NTR, in 1982.

“He (Lokesh) started Yuva Galam as the son of Chandrababu Naidu, but at the end of the walkathon he has emerged as a new mass leader,” claimed K Atchennaidu, currently a Cabinet minister in the Naidu government, on the concluding day of the foot march in December 2023.

Inheritance a myth or challenge?

In an interview during his recent trip to Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum meeting, Naidu, when asked about Lokesh’s elevation, brushed aside inheritance as a “myth”, whether in politics, business or movies. He said one could shine only when the opportunities presented by situations are utilised. Naidu should know it better. It was his clever use of the “situation” that helped him oust NTR and take control of the TDP in 1995. And it was also his sharp gauging of the political weather that made him return to the BJP fold ahead of the 2024 Assembly polls.

The ‘CEO’ CM seems to have given an “opportunity” to Lokesh to prove himself and silence any detractors. Under Lokesh’s role as the chairman of the newly formed task force to attract investments, Andhra Pradesh has received some big-ticket investment promises in recent months.

“He (Lokesh) has already proved his political mettle. Now, he is on a mission to prove his ability in governance, as he has taken up the ambitious task of providing 20 lakh jobs in the next five years. Given the state of affairs that we inherited from the previous YSRCP regime, it’s not an easy task,” TDP spokesperson Neelayapalem Vijay Kumar told DH.

Lokesh is currently building a team for each of the critical aspects of governance. Interactions with the inner circle of Lokesh shed some light on the working style of the young politician. His core team members say Lokesh prefers to delegate work. On the contrary, Naidu gets into every detail.

“Lokesh is punctual for meetings and manages to get more done during a working day; the father gets into many details, so each meeting gets prolonged. Both have given up on work-life balance. Luckily, both have extremely understanding spouses,” said a core team member of Lokesh.

The TDP scion is said to be binary in his approach to people — either you're his person, or you're not. “He stands by those who stood by him during his time of difficulty. Lokesh has a deep respect for his father, and vice versa. Both have created a space for each other," said another team member of Lokesh.

Both Naidu and Lokesh are currently in an enviable position, with their party’s support vital for the NDA government’s survival at the Centre. While the TDP is part of a tri-party alliance in Andhra Pradesh, Naidu commands the loyalty of the 135 MLAs of his party in the 175-strong Assembly. The picture may look rosy, but Naidu is getting older and left with little time to execute a succession plan within the party and the government. Meanwhile, his allies BJP and Kalyan are aggressively spreading their roots in the state. Will Lokesh emulate the political manoeuvrings of his father or forge a new path for the TDP’s survival? The election of 2029 may answer it.