Tirupati: TD general secretary Nara Lokesh, the son of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, said on Sunday he would volunteer to go to jail if Opposition leader Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy provided proof to at least one of the allegations levelled against him by the latter.
On the other hand, he called Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy a thief, saying he he made big money through foul means when Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy was Chief Minister.
Mr Lokesh also hinted he would be part of the AP government, but did not say when, while giving credence to reports that Mr Naidu will make him a minister.
Addressing TD activists on Sunday, at the final day of the Mahanadu here, Mr Lokesh referred to the Opposition criticism regarding the Pattiseema and Amaravati capital construction.
Daring the YSRC chief to prove the allegations, Mr Lokesh said, “If you have the guts, prove at least one allegation. If so, I will go straight to jail on my own.”
Mr Lokesh alleged that Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy had illegally amassed crores of rupees using his father YSR’s position as Chief Minister.
“As the son of another CM, I have not faced any corruption charge so far. In future, if I take up any post in government, I promise I will not bring a bad name to my family,” he said.
While terming Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy as dongabbai (thief) and the Sakshi newspaper as dongapatrika and Sakshi TV as donga TV, Mr Lokesh said Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy and his media were making wild allegations against Mr Naidu without substantiation.
Mr Lokesh said his 67-year-old dad was working tirelessly for the welfare of the people. Recently, he said, he had asked ‘Sir (his father)’ why he was going out at this age in the hot sun. His father replied that he had taken up a mission for water conservation and “till all the programmes like harvesting pits are implemented on the ground,” he would not want to stay indoors even during the hot summer.
Mr Lokesh, while defending criticism of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti that the TD was an Andhra party, said the TD was founded near the Old MLA Quarters in Hyderabad. The TD had the second largest vote share in the GHMC polls, Mr Lokesh said, and reiterated that his party would expand to other states.
Lokesh told me not to become PM: Naidu
