Leadership Muzzles TDP Chorus To Make Lokesh Dy CM

Visakhapatnam: The chorus raised in the TDP circles to make party general secretary and IT, Electronics and Education Minister Nara Lokesh Deputy Chief Minister is understood to have received a setback with the party high command asking the leaders to refrain from making such demands.

The issue took a new twist when Industries Minister TG Bharath, in the presence of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, took him aback by saying at a meeting with the Telugu Diaspora in Zurich that Lokesh will become a Chief Minister in future. "He is quite capable and well educated," he was quoted as saying.

There have been reports doing the rounds that a section of party members are unhappy at the projection of Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan as No 2 in the Cabinet after his appointment as a Deputy Chief Minister. "YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had created five Deputy Chief Minister posts. What's wrong if Lokesh, who did a lot of work in convincing BJP to induct TDP into the NDA before and after the arrest of Naidu, is elevated as a Deputy Chief Minister," a former Minister, told Bizz Buzz seeking anonymity.

Lokesh, son of Chandrababu Naidu, had undertaken Yuvagalam padayatra across the State, launching a crusade against the erstwhile YSRCP Government last year.

Naidu was embarrassed a few days ago when a TDP politburo member Reddappagari Srinivasulu Reddy in his presence during a visit to Mydukur had requested him to make Lokesh a Deputy Chief Minister. Despite the party high command's directive not to make any remarks, TDP BC Cell convener Y Nageswara Rao Yadav urged Naidu to consider appointing Lokesh as Deputy Chief Minister. Yadav said Lokesh is a visionary leader like his father.