Naidu's Son Says New Leader will Emerge as PM with Support of Regional Parties

Guntur: A leader supported by regional parties would form the next government at the Centre, said Nara Lokesh, the Andhra Pradesh minister and son of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.

Speaking to News18 from his constituency, Mangalagiri, Lokesh said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi will surely lose power and a new leader would emerge as the PM candidate with the support of regional parties like us. I cannot say whether Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be the PM. We have two more months to go and anything may happen during this time.”

Lokesh, who became a state Cabinet Minister for Information Technology, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development in 2017, said that despite best efforts from Modi and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekar Rao, YSR Congress president Jagan Mohan Reddy would not be able to defeat the Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh.

“The switch and regulator of YSRC’s symbol fan is with Modi and Rao, respectively. How would he do justice to the people of Andhra by colluding with those who cheated us?” Lokesh said.

He said the TDP had earlier tried to ally with the Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) for the welfare of both the states, which Rao refused. And, now the Telangana CM was colluding with Reddy to stop the development of Andhra, he added.

Regarding election surveys, Lokesh said in 2014, most of them had predicted Naidu’s defeat, but that did not happen, adding that all surveys were paid and did not reflect the truth.

Confident of winning at least 150 Assembly seats and 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in Andhra, Lokesh said the TDP would soon play a key role in central politics.

“People of the state are with TDP as we have developed the state adequately in the last five years. Go and look at Amaravati. Sitting in Hyderabad and criticising the leadership is not fair. Voters would not accept it. Reddy could not build his home in five years, how can he develop Amaravati?” Lokesh said.

Clarifying the TDP’s stand on ties with actor-turned politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party, Lokesh said, “We don’t want to ally with any party and we don’t care about rumours that are being floated by leaders of opposition parties and trolls in the social media.”

Speaking on his contest from Mangalagiri, “We have made a lot of development in the constituency. Our government is putting loads of effort to build this place as an information technology hub. A lot of work is going on and some have already been completed. I will definitely win,” Lokesh said.