Will Nara Lokesh be crowned TDP's king-in-waiting at Mahanadu?

India Today

27-05-2025

As the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) kicked off its three-day annual conclave, Mahanadu, on Tuesday, the spotlight turned towards Nara Lokesh, the son of party president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. Reports suggest that in the 2025 Mahanadu, the first since the TDP's resounding victory in the 2024 Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, Nara Lokesh might officially be declared the party's number two. Lokesh played a key role in the TDP's electoral success by taking the party's message to the masses.advertisementThe three-day TDP Mahanadu in Rayalaseema's region's (southwestern Andhra Pradesh) Kadapa carries added significance, as the region has long been a YSRCP stronghold. Nara Lokesh's potential elevation to the party's number two spot holds weight here, given his role in helping the NDA and the TDP make crucial inroads in Rayalaseema during the 2024 dual victory.TDP's general secretary Nara Lokesh, who is also a minister in Naidu's Cabinet, may be elevated to the post of the party's working president during the Mahanadu in Kadapa, reported The Indian Express.
"Chandrababu Naidu will continue to be the national president of the party. Palla Srinivasa Rao will remain the party's state unit chief. A new role, the party working president, is being created for Nara Lokesh now," a TDP source told the newspaper.HOW NARA LOKESH HELPED IN TDP'S RESSURGENCE IN 2024advertisementAn MBA from Stanford University, the tech-savy Nara Lokesh has been hailed as the architect of TDP's comeback in 2024, having successfully marketed the party's vision to the youth through his 4,000-kilometre state-wide padyatra "Yuva Galam".Seen as the force behind the TDP's resurgence, Lokesh was credited for the TDP-JSP-BJP combine's sweeping 2024 polls after five years out of power. In the 2019 polls, the TDP was decimated by the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP.The 2024 elections saw the TDP, in alliance with the BJP and JSP, clinch 135 of 175 Assembly seats and 16 of 25 Lok Sabha seats, making it the second-largest NDA constituent next to the BJP. The YSRCP could manage just 11 of 175 Assembly seats and 4 of 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh, marking a dramatic fall from its 2019 performance.Nara Lokesh, who was a key strategist for the TDP, was in fact a strong advocate for the BJP-TDP alliance, confidently predicting their joint return to power in Andhra Pradesh – a prediction that came true in 2024.The buzz around Lokesh's likely elevation as TDP's working president follows a May 16 report that said Chandrababu Naidu was planning major organisational changes within the party. Among the major changes, a change in position for Nara Lokesh was being considered, sources told India Today.advertisementThis came after a May 15 report in the Hindustan Times, which quoted a senior TDP leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, saying that Nara Lokesh's appointment as the party's working president was under serious consideration.NARA LOKESH AND HIS SUPER-SIX SCHEMESForty-two-year-old Lokesh, who oversees the portfolios of Human Resource Development, Information Technology, Electronics, and Communication, played a crucial role in shaping the TDP's strategy and policies ahead of the 2024 dual elections. His initiatives, including a tech-driven membership drive that added five million members and the 400-day padyatra, cemented his position as a central figure in the party's campaign and its eventual victory.Lokesh's role in crafting the "Super Six" welfare schemes also earned him praise.Once labelled "unprepared and raw" even by TDP leaders, Lokesh's defining moment came in September 2023 when former CM Chandrababu Naidu was arrested by the YSRCP government of former CM Jagan Mohan Reddy. Lokesh paused his padayatra, took charge of the party, and rallied support across Andhra Pradesh and New Delhi to secure his father's release, a crisis that marked his emergence as the TDP's de facto No. 2, a role he is now expected to formalise at Mahanadu.Must Watch