Yuva Galam padayatra: Nara Lokesh 'welcomes' Jr NTR's entry into politics

TIRUPATI: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) General Secretary Nara Lokesh on Friday welcomed his maternal cousin and Tollywood actor Taraka Rama Rao aka Jr NTR into active politics.

Lokesh, who is on his Yuva Galam padayatra, came up with a cryptic response in Tirupati to a question posed during his interaction with autorickshaw drivers and party cadre. He was asked if he would welcome Jr NTR into active politics.

To this, he reacted: “100 percent. Those who all wish to see Andhra Pradesh at the top of the development path should enter politics,” he remarked even as he refrained from taking the actor's name directly.

Lokesh also heaped praise on Jana Sena President and Power Star Pawan Kalyan on this occasion. He said that the first requisite in politics is to have a good heart and that he had seen it in Pawan Kalyan in 2014 itself.

The latest comments of Lokesh beckoning Jr NTR to active politics, overtly though, became an instant talking point amid an all-pervading perception that the more popular Nadamuri scion would be unwelcome into the TDP’s scheme of things as his entry would slam the doors shut on the political career of Chandrababu Naidu’s son.

Jr NTR too has been keeping away from the political centrestage after his famous stint of campaigning for the TDP before the 2009 elections. With the exception of a few rare photo op moments, neither did he evince any further interest in the party’s activities nor was he goaded by the Nara family to do so since then.

Against this backdrop, there has also been a long-standing speculation that Jr NTR was cautiously kept away from the TDP’s limelight, purely for the sake of Nara Lokesh’s political longevity. In fact, both Chandrababu Naidu and Lokesh sidestepped tricky questions on many occasions in the past on the continued absence of Jr NTR in the TDP. That the party would utilise everyone worth his name at the most opportune had been their common refrain so far.

Now Nara Lokesh displaying no qualms about Jr NTR's entry into active politics sent the political circles into a tizzy. There is talk already on whether Lokesh consciously decided to address this side of politics with an intention to enthuse the TDP cadre.

Lokesh’s latest comments also come at a time when his padayatra is seen to be evoking mixed response. Whether spontaneous or part of a plan, the TDP national general secretary himself welcoming the idea of Jr NTR joining the political mainstream is certain to give a shot in the arm for the party cadre in the state. The move also has the potential to create some ripple effect for Lokesh’s padayatra too.