With Telugu Desam Party general secretary Nara Lokesh expressing his intentions to fight the direct elections to get into electoral politics, rather than joining the Chandrababu Naidu cabinet through backdoor methods by getting nominated as MLC, the talking point now is which constituency he would choose to contest the 2019 elections.
According to the talk going on in the party circles, Naidu wants his son to contest from a safer constituency, rather than a risky one. Obviously, he wants Lokesh to win the seat with a bumper majority instead of getting marginal victory.
Indications are that Lokesh would choose the TDP’s traditional bastion Hindupur in Anantapur, which was earlier represented by TDP founder-president N T Rama Rao and now, Lokesh’s father-in-law and actor Nandamuri Balakrishna.
There are various reasons for his decision. If Balakrishna gets re-elected from Hindupur again and the TDP retains power, he would definitely demand the cabinet berth. It would mean Lokesh would have no chance to become the minister, Naidu cannot accommodate both son and brother-in-law in the Cabinet.
So, the best way is to ask Balakrishna to contest the Lok Sabha elections and in his place, field Lokesh. Since the latter is his own son-in-law, Balakrishna might not have any objection. In the worst case scenario of the TDP’s defeat, Naidu might offer Rajya Sabha seat to Balakrishna.
