Hyderabad, May 31: Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, who tries hard to maintain cordial relations with the family of TDP founder N T Rama Rao, is on slippery ground again with his decision to introduce his son N Lokesh into politics antagonising the members of the NTR family.
One of the senior most members of NTR family, N Harikrishna, walked out of a meeting in a huff when he found that TDP leaders were urging Naidu to induct Lokesh into the party formally. Harikrishna wants his son, NTR Junior, an actor, to be given more prominence in the party.
Naidu tried to do some damage control by indicating at the party’s annual convention that his son was not ready to enter politics, but the chill had already set in as other members of the NTR family decided to skip the convention.
Posters and banners proclaiming Lokesh as Naidu’s successor had been put up at the party convention being held at Gandipet, but within a few hours Naidu asked his party workers to remove them.
“Naidu is torn between introducing his son into the party and encouraging a member of the NTR family to take over the reigns of the party. The 2014 elections are going to be very crucial for the survival of the TDP. While Lokesh maintains a low profile and handles the family’s retail chain, NTR Junior has star power. Many within the party want NTR Junior to be promoted over Lokesh. It is a tough call for Naidu because choosing NTR Junior means handing the party back to NTR family,” says political analyst I Venkat Rao.
On Sunday, the TDP unit of Chandragiri, Naidu’s constituency, passed a resolution requesting Naidu to make Lokesh the party’s constituency in-charge. While downplaying it, Naidu said that he had always taken decisions to protect and promote the TDP, including the decision to stage a coup against his father-in-law and TDP founder N T Rama Rao to become the chief minister in 1995.
“Though Naidu ousted NTR, members of the NTR clan supported him in his decision then basically to keep NTR’s wife Lakshmi Parvathi out of the party. Now, the family feels Naidu owes it to them to promote someone from the family as a possible successor,” says Venkat Rao.
However, Politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP M V Mysoora Reddy said that N Harikrishna did not put up any demands in favour of NTR Junior. “He was only displeased that Lokesh’s posters were being put up everywhere when the matter was not even discussed by Naidu with anyone,” Reddy said.
On Monday, the last day of the TDP convention, Naidu raised the prickly issue of supporting Telangana state movement. “Telangana MLAs will continue to participate in agitations because we understand the sentiments and aspirations of the people of Telangana. We have made our stand on this issue very clear. It is for the Centre to decide now,” he said.
Naidu also threatened to move a no-confidence motion against the government in the next Assembly session if the problems of farmers were not addressed.
-PTI