By J.R.PRASAD
Hyderabad, March 22: A battle for supremacy appears to have begun between the actor Junior NTR and Lokesh, son of the Telugu Desam president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Even as Junior NTR is riding a cycle and sleeping in the fields during his highly successful election campaign, Lokesh is trying to establish himself as the successor of Mr Naidu.
Mr Lokesh, who helped his father formulate the TD’s Cash Transfer Scheme, has now started intervening in day-to-day affairs of the party.
According to TD sources, Mr Lokesh has been helping his father to select potential candidates from various constituencies based on surveys.
“Mr Naidu conducted eight surveys to identify candidates across the state. Now, he is screening the names of candidates with the help of his son,” said a close aide of the TD chief on condition of anonymity.
Giving credence to these reports, the TD chief has set up a separate chamber in the cellar of his house for his son to carry out party work.
The back room boys in the TD camp, who are supposedly helping Mr Naidu to finalise the candidates, like Mr C.M. Ramesh, a contractor, “Sujana” Choudhary, an industrialist, and Mr Garikapati Mohan Rao, party leader, are now regularly meeting Mr Lokesh in his chamber and discussing party affairs.
Mr Naidu’s son is also said to be looking after campaign strategies and meeting film personalities like Murali Mohan and K. Raghavendra Rao to prepare the TD’s campaign ads.
It is also learnt that Mr Lokesh is discussing the party’s poll campaign material with these film personalities.
Lokesh has also become a rallying point for ticket aspirants. Some aspirants are approaching Mr Lokesh in order to get a nomination. For instance, Ms D. Roja Rani, an aspirant for the Huzurnagar seat, recently sought an appointment with Lokesh to present her candidature. Sources said NRIs are seeking Lokesh’s recommendation for tickets.
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