Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has so far not publicly announced his son and party general secretary Nara Lokesh as his heir apparent.
Though the TDP leaders and cadre treat Lokesh as an uncrowned “Yuva Raja” of the party, they, too, have not come out openly to acknowledge him as the successor of Naidu in the party and the government.
But the TDP ranks in the US seem to have already made up their mind that Lokesh is going to be the next chief minister of Andhra Pradesh.
A video of some enthusiastic party workers in the US flying a flex banner saying: “Welcome to Nara Lokesh, future chief minister of Andhra Pradesh,” has gone viral on social media.
It is not immediately known whether it was an act of the TDP NRI unit officially or of some enthusiastic supporters of Lokesh. But the banner has sent a message to the cadres that Lokesh will succeed Naidu as the chief minister sooner or later.
Needless to say, Lokesh has already been enjoying the privilege of No. 2 in the state cabinet on par with deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan.
Despite the fact that Naidu has been giving a lot of importance to Pawan Kalyan at every meeting, it is Lokesh who is hogging the limelight at every opportunity.
The way Lokesh got tremendous media coverage and publicity for his US visit clearly shows how much the TDP is trying to elevate him as the future CM!