Chandrababu emulates Lokesh, calls for the end of 'cycle rule'!

HYDERABAD: Though 'foot-in-mouth' slip-ups are common in public speeches, they sound hilarious and evoke laughter and derision, particularly when they come from politicians. If former AICC president Rahul Gandhi is the pick of the lot, Nara Lokesh takes the cake among the politicos in the Telugu states for the 'accidental blunders' of the spoken word.

As if competing with Lokesh, his illustrious father and TDP chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu too goofed up the other day during one of his public meetings in Andhra Pradesh, forcing his partymen to run for cover. In a slip of the tongue, Chandrababu Naidu was heard vouching for the end of a 'cycle rule' in an attempt to goad the crowds to bring the curtains down on the YSRCP regime.

It's a no-brainer that cycle is the famous poll symbol of the TDP right since the time it was founded by NT Rama Rao. Interestingly, it is this very election symbol for which Chandrababu waged an intense legal battle to wrest it from his father-in-law and was even accused of trying every 'devious' trick up his sleeves for the purpose.

The goof-up, happening during the live telecast of Naidu's public meeting provided enough cannon-fodder for the netizens to have a field day. Soon, social media platforms were flooded with memes, deriding the veteran politician for being dumb and flippant in his speech. Some of the social media enthusiasts were quick to retrieve video clips from the archives of a similar slip-up by Naidu's son Lokesh a few years ago.

During one of his speeches in the runup for the GHMC elections in Hyderabad, Lokesh was famously heard enlightening the public that voting for the TDP only meant tightening the noose around one's neck. The opposition parties, primarily the YSRCP, then exploited it to the hilt to hit out at the young Nara scion and lampooned him for his ignorance.

Following Chandrababu Naidu's latest goof-up, netizens came up with memes featuring the comments of both Lokesh and Naidu to ridicule them with comments such as 'Like Son, Like Father'. Looks like the opposition leader has just handed his opponents (read YSRCP men) another weapon of farcical trivia on a golden platter.