Telugu Desam Party general secretary and Andhra Pradesh IT minister Nara Lokesh is yet to learn diplomacy in politics and the art of controlling his mind and tongue while making public announcements.
Many times, he is not able to understand how his statements will land his own party in trouble.
No doubt, the recent victory in Nandyal by-elections has given a big boost to the TDP morale and the leaders are talking about sustaining this victory streak in the 2019 elections as well. But our Lokesh babu has gone a step ahead.
At a party meeting in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday, Lokesh went to the extent of saying that the TDP leaders and cadre should strive in such a way that the party should win all the 175 seats in Andhra Pradesh in 2019 elections.
Apparently, Lokesh has forgotten the fact that the TDP has an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party and has to allocate some seats to it. So, naturally, this has angered the local BJP leaders. They wonder whether the TDP wants to go it alone in the elections and does not want an alliance with the BJP at all.
Senior BJP leader in AP and MLA P Vishnu Kumar Raju who is also the party's floor leader in the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly took a dig at Lokesh for saying that the TDP will win all the 175 Assembly seats in 2019 Election.
“Does he mean, the TDP alone will win 175 seats without any alliance with the BJP or does it include the seats to be won by the BJP in alliance with the TDP?” he asked.
He said the BJP will contest in AP as per the directives of BJP high command. He said that his party is aiming at strengthening the party base in all the 175 constituencies and that they will work towards that goal.
