In 2018, gigantic cardboard cut-outs of Nara Lokesh in Telugu Desam Party’s Mahanadu or annual conclave announced the birth of a new leader in Andhra Pradesh – one who inherited the political legacy of the hugely popular chief minister N.T. Rama Rao.
Lokesh’s father and the then chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had recently created a political storm by walking out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, in protest against Narendra Modi’s government reluctance to classify Andhra Pradesh as a Special Category Status (SCS) state. Naidu, who had played a significant role in bringing opposition parties together during the United Front government in the nineties, claimed that the Union government had reneged on its promise and moved swiftly – but eventually without much success – to conjure up a larger political front against the Modi government.
Amidst all the hype and hoopla in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Lokesh remained under the shadow of his father, although he had been a state minister in the Naidu government for over two years. His was a launch that never materialised as effectively as Naidu had imagined. Murmurs that the party’s senior leaders viewed Lokesh’s sudden arrival as a threat and a move that could backfire on the TDP became stronger by the day.
Then, the drubbing that Naidu and his party faced at the hands of the YSR Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSR Congress in the 2019 assembly polls almost buried all hopes for the party’s rising star to emerge as a leader in the political proscenium. Lokesh lost his maiden election from Guntur’s Mangalagiri narrowly to the YSRCP candidate, even as his party was reduced to a paltry 23 seats in the 175-member assembly.
Five years down the line, however, the state of Andhra Pradesh is witnessing a rebirthed Lokesh. The earlier shy and unsure Lokesh, acknowledged more as a dynast than anything else, has given way to a diligent and an energetic leader in the making.
The outskirts of Visakhapatnam on December 18, during the Yuvagalam rally. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashastha/The Wire.
Perhaps, the current chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Jagan Reddy, should get a little credit for his principal rival’s transformation.
Over the last five years, Lokesh has braved one attack after another from Reddy, so typical of Telugu politics. A large number of his father’s plans like building a modern capital Amravati, or projects like Polavaram Dam have either been shelved or have descended into low priority jobs for the YSR Congress government. TDP leaders have faced one corruption charge after another. Naidu himself has not been in the best of his health, and just spent almost the whole election-bound year in prison in a case of corruption.
Lokesh has led the party, meanwhile – steeling himself to lead a year-long padyatra called Yuvagalam (Voice of the Youth), raising concerns of the young like unemployment, vacancies, law and order and so on in the absence of his father. The foot rally began on January 27, 2023 from Bhimavaram, covered 3,132 kilometres over 226 days across the state, and ended on December 20, 2023, with intermittent breaks.
Over the last one year, Lokesh is said to have participated in around 200 public meetings, where he received around 4,300 grievance petitions from the public. Barring a two month break, when Lokesh was at his aggressive best in demanding a bail for his father who was lodged in prison, the 40-year old TDP leader has walked about 12-15 kilometres everyday, in his party’s biggest mass outreach ever. His speeches have been fiercely critical of the state government; he has often referred to the chief minister as “psycho,” a reference that also figures in the padyatra song, and has built an opposition narrative around over-centralisation during the Jagan Reddy government, democratic backsliding in the state, unemployment, allegedly illegal sand mining and liquor sale, and a supposed failing law and order condition.
The outskirts of Visakhapatnam on December 18, during the Yuvagalam rally. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashastha/The Wire.
The padyatra itself was a colourful affair, marked by larger-than-life cut-outs of Lokesh and Naidu, an enthusiastic and raucous crowd looking to get a glimpse of Lokesh and his family members who were often walking alongside. It was as much a mass outreach as much as it was an unprecedented effort in Naidu’s absence to consolidate party rank and file. More importantly, it was a visible instance of how a leader is born, through sheer hard work and persistence, and accepted by people as one of their own.
The Wire caught up with Lokesh on December 18, two days before it culminated in Visakhapatnam in the presence of Naidu and his ally Pawan Kalyan of the Jana Sena party. As the nation gears up for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Lokesh had clear answers about his party’s role, his own plan, rumours about the TDP joining the NDA ranks again, and why he thinks Naidu’s victory in the upcoming assembly polls is almost certain.
Here is an excerpt from the interview:
One gets an impression that while TDP’s governance centred around infrastructure development, YSR Congress has a focussed approach towards welfare of the poor. How do you differentiate between your party and Jagan Reddy’s?
Our balance has always been between welfare and development. The development wheel in the cycle sort of loomed the welfare wheel. And if you look at our manifesto also, we have said that we will create 20 lakh jobs for the youth. So if you have to create 20 lakh jobs, and as and when we create 20 lakh jobs, Andhra’s economy will triple. So, based on the past, every six lakh jobs doubles the economic growth. That is the kind of work that we want to do.
If you look at the number of companies that have come to our state, the kind of development that has happened, our reforms, all that was done by Mr. Naidu. But we also believe that it needs to be balanced by welfare.
What this government has specifically done is the fact that they have done welfare on the back of debt and that has resulted in substantial increase in cost of living, current prices have gone up nine times, power prices up by nine times. Petrol, diesel prices are one of the highest in the country. Welfare based on debt money is a wrong approach.
Andhra is in that (debt) trap and people have recognised that. So that’s something that we will break, we will break that cycle. We’ll put the state back on the development platform.
Also read: TDP Sets Up Website to Counter Skill Development Scheme Charges, Highlights Praise
This (padyatra) song that I was just listening to named the chief minister as ‘the psycho.’
A chief minister, once he comes into power, would always like to start work on a development and welfare platform. But what he started on was the destruction of prajavedika and subsequently all the issues that he has taken on have just ruined the state. So if you look at our economy, power sector, agri-sector, mining, sand, every sector is ruined. So, people have started to call him a psycho. So this kind of psychotic behaviour will lead to him being called psycho.
You know, he says he has no money to make even one capital (city), but he has money to do three capitals. How is it going to work?
How do you measure the success of your padayatra?
Well, if I say it’s a success, you will say, obviously Lokesh will claim it’s a success, right.
No, but I will listen to you.
I will not claim anything. I think it is for you to judge whether Yuvagalam is a success or not.
From my perspective, the entire reason why I started the padayatra is to give a platform for youth to talk about their problems. But then in a month, 45 days into the padayatra, you know, I realised that it’s not just youth, but every section of society has been troubled and this Yuvagalam has become Andhra’s galam (voice).
It manifested into the farmers talking about their problems, women talking about their problems, youngsters talking about their problems, students talking about their problems.
At the end, you know, we realised that, you know, this person is just all talk but no work and that’s something that’s come out now.
If you look at the padayatra, women, in the middle of the day, have come out, volunteered and they stood there, received us, explained their problems and, you know, sort of also made it clear what they expect from our government.
In terms of social outreach, how successful has it been? Because the last time the results showed that the TDP had lost a large chunk of its traditional voters to this YSRCP.
In the 2019 elections, in terms of the number of seats, YSRCP won 151 and we won 23. But the fact is that we got 40% of the vote share and YSRCP got 50% of the vote share. So, I need to convince 6 in 100 to vote for TDP to win with a simple majority.
What has happened is Jagan, psycho Jagan as we fondly call him, came on a promise of one chance. He said he will change people’s lives, that he is his father’s son. But what people have realised is that their lives have become worse off and he has done nothing but ruin their lives. All the promises that he made for various communities, caste-wise, it’s not fructified.
But he has five deputy chief ministers from different communities.
But what power do they have? You know, the home minister is Dalit. But she cannot protect Dalits in her own constituency from YSRCP leaders. Giving posts does not change things sir, empowering people changes things.
They’re all dummies. My question to Jagan is that why have you cancelled 27 welfare programmes of Dalits?
You allege that deputy chief ministers don’t have any power?
As I said, even the Dalit home minister is not allowed into the Dalit area of a village. She is a home minister. What can she do tomorrow then? See, that’s what’s happening in the state no, all the ministers are dummies. All the deputy CMs are dummies.
The outskirts of Visakhapatnam on December 18, during the Yuvagalam rally. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashastha/The Wire.
Many of your father’s pet projects are stuck now – Polavaram, capital, all of them are stuck.
Stuck, I think, is a very soft word. Ruined is the right word. See, it’s easy to ruin things. It’s very difficult to build.
Their minister, Mr. Anil Yadav, said in 2021 that they’ll finish Polavaram. It’s already 2024. Mr. Naidu finished the work up to 72%. I think these guys have done another 4% in four years. Amaravati stands in ruins. They have done nothing to Visakhapatnam which they claim is an executive capital. In the Judiciary capital, Kurnool, they have not even done any land acquisition for the high court to be built. They have not even sent a request to CJI to shift the high court. The chief justice of Andhra Pradesh has not received any request. So there’s nothing but playing with people’s lives.
Your party faced the worst drubbing in the Rayalseema area. How do you assess your situation this time?
In fact, last time in Rayalaseema, we won only three seats. Don’t be surprised this time if we win 80% of the seats.
Because you started your padyatra from the region?
I spent most of my time in Rayalaseema. The entire summer.
Access to water was a huge problem and it’s been like a problem there since ever.
Absolutely. And that is what, Polavaram would have been completed. Water could have come, you know, there’s a project called Pattiseema. Pattiseema was a temporary project, but it’s an expensive project. 1700 crores was spent, it’s an expensive project. The idea is we will take water from Godavari, give it to Krishna Delta, from where it will be sent to Rayalaseema. That’s the whole idea. And Mr. Naidu worked on it for three years.
This chief minister, simply because he opposed Pattiseema for whatever reason, refused to turn on the motors of Pattiseema. And he dried Rayalseema and dried Krishna delta. That’s the challenge.
So in Rayalaseema, you know, despite the presence of a large number of ministers, water continues to be a problem. Lack of industrialization continues to be a problem. And when I walked in, the maximum number of my selfies came from Rayalaseema. That’s an acknowledgement of the fact that we got industries in Rayalaseema. So we are proud of it.
So are you still calling for some kind of special category status for AP?
Yes, we will continue to ask for it. We didn’t stop, right. And it’s not just about the (special) category status, we continue to ask for the demands, the promises made in the bifurcation to be met.
The YSRCP has 22 MPs, they don’t even talk, they have 9 Rajya Sabha MPs, they never raise their voice for Andhra Pradesh.
But, politically, you will have to stitch a social coalition to win.
TDP does not believe in talks based on caste, creed, religion. We believe that we need to develop the state, we need to eliminate poverty. And TDP is known for it. We will continue to balance both welfare and development.
But social outreach?
That continues to be a cornerstone. If you look at our promises, it’s quite clear.
There’s always a Kamma (caste) party tag to shed though.
I disagree. I’m sorry but if you look at it, even before TDP was founded, there were close to 67 Kamma MLAs in 294 assembly seats of combined Andhra Pradesh. This is the pre-TDP era. Post TDP era, that number of seats have come down. The Telugu Desam Party’s success was because of the role that the BCs (backward communities) played in its emergence.
Who was our finance minister? Who was our revenue minister? Who was our I&B minister? All the major key portfolios were held by BC leaders. I mean, if you look at the deputy chairperson of our council, he was a BC. Deputy speakers were BCs.
Jagan has been lying about our party. He lied to the president of India. He lied to the governor. He lied to the Prime Minister and I’ll tell you why. He is a pathological liar. It’s very unfair that even media makes such a claim. Please look at the data. Please look at our leadership. Please look at our Politburo.
Please look at every body in Telugu Desam since its foundation, since its inception and it has (the BC representation) been extremely strong. This time, we plan to send more BCs to Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and the assembly.
Still, the larger question is whether Jagan’s ministers have any independence or not? They don’t even have a clue what fly is moving in their own department. Absolutely autocratic. You ask any minister, he’ll tell you.
The outskirts of Visakhapatnam on December 18, during the Yuvagalam rally. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashastha/The Wire.
TDP, there were new reports – of course, many of them unsubstantiated – that the TDP is back in talks with BJP.
So far we have not had any discussions (with the BJP).
But it is a very awkward situation for you. You are in alliance with the Jana Sena Party. Jana Sena is a part of NDA. TDP is not.
In Telangana, yes, they’re a part of NDA. But Andhra, no? Of course, Jana Sena and TDP have agreed to come together and fight against the psycho government. That much is quite clear. It is for the BJP to decide whether they would like to be part of this alliance or not.
So many, many people say that Jagan check-mated the TDP by preventing it from aligning itself with BJP. The BJP will now have to answer a lot of questions if it allies with Naidu who is facing corruption charges.
Isn’t it ironic that we are having this conversation? Jagan has 38 cases against him – 11 CBI, 7 ED. Rs 43,000 crores of public money was swindled by him.
I was saying that Jagan was kind of trying to put BJP in a spot, not TDP.
Show me one national leader who believes Mr. Naidu is corrupt. Just because if a madman falsely accused Mr. Naidu, manages all the institutions, sends him to judicial remand for 53 days, that doesn’t make him a corrupt politician. I mean, where is the proof?
You know, what did they say? 3000 crores scam in skill development, then they said 370 crore. Now they’re saying 27 crore. I said, prove but they’re unable to prove.
You’re telling me a man who was the chief minister for 15 years, spent 15 years as leader of opposition has indulged in a corruption scam worth only Rs 27 crores. We still say that the skill development programme in our government helped train 2,15,000 kids and get 85,000 people jobs.
The irony is that after Mr. Naidu came out, I restarted my padayatra in East Godavari where I received about six representations to intensify our skill development programme. I told them this is the reason Mr. Naidu was sent to jail.
Simply, I’ll tell you, if Mr. Naidu wanted to make money, he knew Cyberabad was coming up. He knew the value of land in Hyderabad would go up. Back then, the value per acre was not more than a lakh of rupees. Mr. Naidu could have purchased a minimum 1,000 acres. No one could have questioned that. He would have been worth nothing less than $ 10-12 billion dollars today, if he did that.
Also read: By Appointing Purandeswari as Andhra Chief, Is BJP Trying to Grow at TDP’s Expense?
Similar charges were filed against him in Amaravati?
You know, on one side, they say I don’t have a house in Amaravati. On the other side, they say that I had insider information and my company bought land which is 90 kilometres away or X kilometres away from the core capital. Absolutely rubbish charges.
Will your party or your father play a role in the INDIA alliance? He was a part of that opposition in 2019.
Historically, TDP has been an anti-Congress platform, because we believe the leadership of Congress did not do justice to Andhra Pradesh. Mr. Naidu was a part of the United Front government, and subsequently was the NDA convenor also under Vajpayee ji’s tenure. Vajpayee ji was very kind enough to do a lot of good work for Andhra and the nation, as a matter of fact.
So, our stand continues to be the same as of now. We’re equidistant from both alliances and our support is purely issue-based.
So, will TDP not compromise its secular fundamentals in case it supports the Modi-led BJP. Continue its inclusive secular politics in Andhra Pradesh.
TDP’s fundamentals, foundation is based on secularism. The first Dalit speaker in Lok Sabha is a person from TDP, (G.M.C) Balayogi ji, right? The first woman Dalit speaker in the assembly is a TDPian. (K.) Pratibha Bharati ji. First minority person that went to Lok Sabha from Andhra Pradesh was (S.M) Laljan Basha ji from Guntur. So, TDP believes that India should not be divided along religious lines. We are a union of states. Together, we need to move forward.
At the same time, secularism doesn’t mean we are anti-Hinduism. I think that’s the fine line. When this (state) government got formed, attacks on temples increased. And in Ram Tirtham, which is a very historical temple in North Andhra Pradesh, the idol was defaced and Mr. Naidu went there. And people questioned me and I asked a straight question to everyone that if this had happened to a mosque, wouldn’t any political party respond? The same thing happened to a church and we responded. TDP is a secular party. We stand by Hindus.
How do you weigh your chances in these elections? Both in parliament and assembly?
Our victory is a virtual certainty. We will sweep all regions, just wait and watch. I sensed anti-incumbency against Jagan’s government as early as October 2021. That is when, in my own constituency, I started doing a door-to-door programme and I reported back to Mr. Naidu that there’s severe anti-incumbency and that’s when we did this programme on price rise and so on and so forth. And then we did a programme on the, you know, what is the sorry state of this Andhra Pradesh? And now we are doing a programme on welfare. We’re going to do a programme on hope.
So you’ve been active all these five years?
Well, you should ask the public.
Since January, I know that you’ve been doing this padayatra.
I have 22 cases against me. I have an attempt to murder case against me, I have an SC-ST atrocity case against me. If I was an inactive politician or a part-time politician, do you think so many cases would be there? And by the way, quite a few people sitting here have cases against them also.
But that’s a very Andhra feature.
No, no, that is a very psycho Jagan feature. When Mr. Naidu was in power, he did not harass Jagan. In fact, Jagan was postponing his cases. You know, I’m led to believe Raghuram Krishnam Raju filed a petition in the Supreme Court. He’s YSRCP’s own MP; he claims Jagan has asked for adjournment in his cases 4,000 times. And Mr. Naidu, when he was in the government, never fast-tracked his cases. Mr. Naidu never practised vendetta politics either on Jagan or even his father, YSR. He ever did.
In fact, when YSR had a life threat, you know, from some elements, it was Mr. Naidu who gave him security. This was pre-2004. That is what Mr Naidu stands for. In the five years of our administration, it was all about development and welfare. Otherwise why would so many companies come to Andhra? Why would Kia come, Foxconn come, TCL come, and then HCL, Zoho, Asian Paints, Berger Paints, Apollo Tyres, Hero Motors?
My vision is also the same. Since January 27, last year, I haven’t taken a break even on Saturdays and Sundays. The only breaks in this yatra were during festivals because our leaders asked me to do so. I didn’t take a break except when Mr. Naidu was in judicial remand.
Organisationally, are you appearing to be deep rooted now? You have been credited with increasing party membership by quite a few times through your digital outreach too.
TDP has always been an organisationally strong party, but TDP is also like an elephant. If it sits, it doesn’t stand. If it stands, it doesn’t run. Once it runs, anyone who comes opposite to it, it will just stomp him and go and that’s the kind of momentum now.
What are your challenges ahead of elections?
I think the biggest challenge we will face is misuse of official missionary. But we are trying to reach every household and we are giving them a bond in terms of what we are going to do once Telugu Desam Party comes back to power. So we have a very strong grassroots organisation, in that sense.
