Demand for Lokesh’s Cabinet post: TDP’s sycophantic gristmills whirr faster
Sycophancy is the middle name of political parties. Regional parties in power make a perfect recipe for the same.
When the Congress has shown the path several decades ago and doesn’t feel tired of repeating the act time and again at the national level, every other political party naturally vied with one another in promoting the progeny of the helmsmen of their respective parties. Surely the overzealousness with which leaders of the political parties try and brazenly heap praises on the purported heir-apparent is more often than not an embarrassment to the subject himself.
Now, we are talking about the Telugu Desam Party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu’s son Lokesh.
There is a sudden spurt in demand for the induction of Lokesh into the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet a la K T Rama Rao in Telangana (For those who came in late, KTR is the son of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Raoa.k.a KCR). Ministers like PalleRaghunatha Reddy, KolluRavindra and several other leaders made a pitch for Lokesh’s induction into the Cabinet in a no-holds-barred attempt of demonstration of servility.
In their vulgar bid to display their servitude, some Telugu Desam leaders are at times losing control over their normal senses and blurting out statements that may be interpreted as an attempt to oust Chandrababu Naidu from the Chief Ministership and enthrone his son.
When good sense prevails as an after-thought, they are falling silent in their bid to atone their blunder. Some of them have said Lokesh is capable of becoming the Chief Minister and some MLAs like Bode Prasad (Penamaluru in Krishna district) have openly offered to vacate their seats to have Lokesh elected.
Even ChandrababuNaidu is apparently disgusted with this “more-loyal-than-the-king” approach of his colleague leaders. The well-choreographed ‘public demand’ that Lokesh must be elevated as a minister even before he’s elected to any of the legislative bodies is awful, if not terrible.
Lokesh’s public speaking capabilities impale him as the most unimpressive and hackneyed leader. Lokesh’s natural gain of inheritance of his father’s legacy doesn’t enable him to nurse the ambition to step into his shoes at some point in time, just like that. The TDP’s sycophants went on bashing the party’s opponents on the point of “experience” (which actually demonstrated their naiveté, for NTR did not have any experience before he took the plunge, yet proved the best Chief Minister of a State) is now falling flat on their faces.
If a comparison is drawn with the neighbouring Telangana, KTR was a legislator and participated full-blown in the Telangana agitation, matching step with his father KCR. So are Kavita and Harish Rao. This naturally emboldened KCR to give a quiet go-by to the criticism of nepotism and empower them with political positions, once the party came into power.
But the same is not the case with Lokesh. The hilarious YouTube videos where he fumbled have very high number of visits indicating how people are disposed towards him. Not all politicos can pass on the baton to their biological heirs. Could NTR do that? He indeed nursed an ambition to anoint his actor-son Balakrishna as his political heir too. The patriarch had made an announcement to this effect at a public meeting too during his heydays.
But, a very highly alert and extremely-calculativeChandrababu Naidu successfully had that idea nipped in the bud losing no time, paving the way for himself. Of course, the stumbling block in the form of Lakshmi Parvathi had to be fought over in later days by Naidu. If the power struggle was with Balakrishna, things could have gone awry for Naidu. That Balakrishna is no match to Chandrababu Naidu on any given sphere is, of course, beyond any debate. Yet, the popular support and media patronage would have tilted in favour of Balakrishna more, for he is the son of the legend.
Well, Naidu, known for his political legerdemain, has a long-term vision for positioning himself and his son. Hence, the sudden demand for Lokesh’s induction began. He timed it so well that when nobody is questioning the leadership of KTR or Rahul Gandhi, why would anybody even think of criticising the anointment of Lokesh.
After all, the political plank of the main opposition, the YSR Congress, in Andhra Pradesh is in itself a claim of inheritance – If Jagan were not the son of YS Rajasekhara Reddy or if YSR were not the Chief Minister, things could have been completely different.
So, there would be no criticism even from that front. After all, Jagan would not have any moral right to question the elevation of Lokesh, for he had his mother YS Vijayalakshmi succeed his father as Pulivendula MLA in the first byelection. Eventually, when he had her resign and seek a re-election too, he had made her the Leader of the YSR Congress group in the Assembly. So, he and his party would, anyway, have no locus standiin opposing the elevation of Lokesh or talk about dynastic politics.
The public posturing through family functions – first birthday celebration of Chandrababu Naidu’s grandson Devansh in Vijayawada is just a case in point – makes a lot of sense for Naidu to clear the decks for his son.
Can Lokesh measure up to the expectations is, however, just a conjecture of time.
