Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s son and state IT minister Nara Lokesh has been often a subject of criticism and ridicule by the Opposition parties.
More than for his inexperience in administration, Lokesh has become the target for his political rivals for his alleged corruption and above all, his lack of articulation skills in public.
The moment Lokesh fumbles in his speech or makes a slip-of-the-tongue comment, he gets trolling in the social media within no time.
And the nickname he has got from critics is “Pappu,” a word which is also used for Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
While his father Chandrababu Naidu is heckled as Nippu Naidu (because he calls himself a fireball), Lokesh is called “Pappu Naidu.”
Lokesh knows he has become a subject of heckling by his rivals. But he is taking them easy.
“It is all part of politics. As far as I know, I have not done anything wrong. So, I am least bothered about the comments made by the rivals,” he said, in an interview to an English daily.
On the charges of corruption against him, Lokesh challenged the opponents to produce one order which he had signed in favour of any contractor or a company in the last two years.
“All GOs and all company financials are in public domain. Let them show one GO showing that I had favoured a particular company that would get me money,” he said.
He clarified that the only criticism that he had got was favouring Franklin Templeton (FT) to set up its office in Visakhapatnam.
“It is a Fortune 500 company. As per the GIC policy, that is the first company that applied. If I don’t let it come, who is going to come?” he asked.
“Let them criticise me more and more. I am enjoying it. Tomorrow, I will stand in front of FT board and tell them. I have not done anything wrong. All these years, they criticised me saying am inefficient and incapable. Now, they criticise me for attracting companies. It is hilarious,” he said.
