At last, Telugu Desam Party general secretary and party president N Chandrababu Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh could find a reason for his own defeat in Managalagiri assembly constituency in the recent assembly elections.
No, it was not the inefficient and corrupt governance of his father nor was his own incapability in proving his leadership to the party.
It was not even because the people did not acknowledged him as a successor of Naidu.
But, according to Lokesh, the main reason for his defeat was his non-availability to the people of Mangalagiri.
“I did not get sufficient time to come closer to the voters of the constituency. My candidature from Mangalagiri was announced in the last moment and there was hardly any time to win over the confidence of the voters,” he said.
The TDP general secretary said it was unfortunate that the TDP had lost even in those constituencies where the previous government had developed tremendous infrastructure like roads and power, besides education and health sectors.
The reasons mentioned by Lokesh for his defeat are really silly. They might be excuses for other party candidates whose names were announced at the eleventh hour. But Lokesh is supposed to be a celebrity as he happens to be the chief minister’s son.
Secondly, he contested from the constituency that falls under Amaravati capital region which was nurtured by Naidu in the last four years. He claimed to have earned a lot of goodwill among the voters there. Yet, Lokesh had to bite the dust in the elections.
So, the problem is not with the timing of announcement of his candidature. The people wanted to get rid of the Naidu rule and hence, they voted against the TDP in most parts of the state!