Lokesh to stand from Mangalagiri

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's son and state IT Minister Nara Lokesh will be contesting the Assembly elections from Mangalagiri in Guntur district.

Lokesh, who is the general secretary of the TDP, was roped into Naidu's Cabinet through the Legislative Council.

Lokesh has interned in World Bank and has a MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

His wife, actor Balakrishna's daughter Brahmani, is also a graduate from Stanford and has worked in Heritage foods, her family business.

With Naidu wanting to put Lokesh's popularity through the test, several party workers had offered their constituencies.

Initially, Naidu even toyed with the idea of fielding Lokesh from Kuppam, his home turf.

Naidu has been representing Kuppam since 1983. Constituencies in Krishna district, from where party patriarch NT Rama Rao hailed, Bheemili constituency in Visakhapatnam district and the Visakhapatnam-II constituency were also considered.

Pedakurapadu in Guntur district was an option for some time.

The TDP lost Mangalagiri constituency to the YSR Congress candidate Alla Ramakrishna Reddy with a slender margin of 12 votes in the 2014 elections. The TDP has always allocated Mangalagiri to the alliance partners except for two times.