Hyderabad: All eyes are on Nara Lokesh, the heir apparent of Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, who will test his communication skills from April 12 when he goes on a state-wide tour to campaign for the TD candidates.
Though Mr Lokesh has addressed a few meetings before, they were of small groups and mostly restricted to Kuppam Assembly constituency which has been electing his father since 1989.
Otherwise, he has been lagging behind compared to other Gen Next heirs like Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his sister Sharmila and TRS supremo K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s children K.T. Rama Rao and Kavita who have proved their ability to connect with the masses.
“He is shy and more comfortable with people he knows in small groups. But he has enormous patience and listens to the other person,” said a member of Team Lokesh which consists of about 20 groups handling different portfolios, from conducting surveys to drawing up campaign strategies to maintaining the party’s social media profile.
Sources said Mr Lokesh underwent training in public speech and body language along with his father, who has improved remarkably in conveying his point while ridding himself of clichés like “teliyachesukuntunnanu aa vidhamgaa munduku podaam” etc.
As part of his image-building, the TD has been projecting Mr Lokesh as the party’s prime strategist since 2009. His father told the world that it was Mr Lokesh who designed the cash transfer (direct benefit transfer) scheme. The 2014 manifesto of the party, however, dropped the DBT.
The party’s media managers have been floating stories that Mr Lokesh will contest from Serilin-gampally Assembly seat and go on a cycle yatra across Seemandhra. None of this has materialised.
Party leaders claimed that Mr Lokesh was the brain behind the “bring back Babu” campaign involving youth and IT professionals. He also monitors the surveys and advertising campaign of the party.
