TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s son lokesh, who is preparing himself to take up a bigger role in the party, has started pulling strings both in the party and the Government in the absence of his father, who left for Davos to take part in the World Economic Forum meeting in the early hours of Tuesday.
N lokesh is calling the shots in Telugu Desam party in the absence of N Chandrababu Naidu. In a clear indication that the young man was being promoted and groomed as second in command in the party, lokesh chaired a meeting of Ministers and about 15 MlAs at the party headquarters NTR Bhavan on Tuesday to discuss the issue of paddy procurement and farmers’ problems.
This is second such meeting N lokesh chaired in last one month. Earlier, he had a meeting with the Ministers on the coordination between the Government and the party. The meeting on paddy procurement was also attended by Minister for agriculture P Pulla Rao, Minister for civil supplies Paritala Sunitha, labor Minister Acchannaidu. Apart from hearing from the Ministers on the measures being taken for the paddy procurement and ensuring maximum benefits to the farmers, lokesh reportedly made some suggestions to improve the mechanism further.
The Minister for agriculture informed lokesh about various steps including increasing the capacity of warehouses of Food Corporation of India in the State to increase the procurement. lokesh wanted Ministers to ensure that farmers get appropriate minimum support price. The meeting was being seen as a part of the concerted efforts to increase the role of lokesh in the party affairs and promote him as the political heir of Naidu. lokesh was already actively involved in the affairs of TDP and was playing his role as the coordinator of Welfare Fund meant for the party workers.
The Fund, which was attracting liberal donations from the party bigwigs, industrialists, film stars and other prominent people, was being described as the brain child of lokesh. The initiative announced during the campaign of last year’s elections, was seen as an attempt to retain the workers in the party and reward them for their loyalty. The fund was being utilised to pay financial assistance to the families in case of the death of party workers and also to take care of the education of their children among other things.
Party sources said that this role was helping Naidu in building a loyal base in the party. Some Ministers were also being encouraged to promote lokesh and prepare the ground for him to take over party’s leader in future. Born in Hyderabad, lokesh was also trying to project himself as a “Telangana man” to strengthen the party in the region and take on Telangana Rashtra Samiti.