Even as Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan has challenged Telugu Desam Party general secretary and Andhra Pradesh IT minister Nara Lokesh to contest direct elections, instead of becoming the minister through backdoor methods, the “chinna babu” is said to be in a dilemma as to which seat would be safer for him to contest.
Though there were reports that his father and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu would move to national politics and contest Lok Sabha elections from Vijayawada parliamentary seat, leaving his Kuppam assembly seat to Lokesh, party sources say it was just a kite flying report.
They say Naidu is not interested in Lok Sabha, but will contest from Kuppam assembly constituency in the next elections as well. This would mean Lokesh has to look for another alternative and safer constituency.
Sources say Naidu has held a couple of rounds of discussions with the party leaders to find a suitable seat for his son from Rayalaseema.
Apparently, he does not want to take risk by fielding Lokesh from coastal Andhra, as the YSR Congress party and Jana Sena are growing stronger in these areas. So, the safe seat should be within Rayalaseema. He sought the suggestions from his party seniors in this regard.
One of the interesting suggestions that came up during the meeting is that Naidu should ask Nandamuri Balakrishna to sacrifice his Hindupur assembly seat to Lokesh.
This is basically because there is a lot of disgruntlement among the party workers and also the local people against Balakrishna who did little for the constituency in the last four years, though they still are loyal to the TDP.
If Balakrishna contests again, the chances of his victory are less, while if Lokesh enters the fray, the situation could be favourable for him.
Balakrishna might not say no to Naidu’s request, as Lokesh happens to be his son-in-law.
In lieu of Hindupur seat, Naidu might offer Rajya Sabha seat to Balakrishna, which is safer for him, too. If it is not possible, he can even nominate Balayya to Legislative Council!
