‘Son’rise: Will Lokesh Be Able To Do A Tejashwi And Jagan?

Politics became the fort of the wealthy which eventually gave way to hereditary politics in India. Once a political leader succeeds in becoming the MLA, minister or Chief Minister, his son automatically aspires to rise to the same position and it is proving successful too, even when the fathers are tainted with charges of heavy corruption and other grave offences.

The recent incidents have iterated the same fact in our country. The scions of many political families are able to rise to key positions and call the shots.

Lalu’s successor

In the just concluded Bihar polls, Tejaswhi Yadav, the younger son of former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav who is currently lodged in Ranchi jail after being proved guilty in the multi-crore fodder scam, was not elected as the Chief Minister but his party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) emerged as the single-largest party winning 75 seats in the
243-member Assembly.

The emergence of Tejashwi as a young and popular leader and the better than expected performance of his RJD point to basic changes in the social and political arena of Bihar.

Thirtyone-year-old Tejashwi is the youngest leader of opposition in the country. In 2015, he was elected as the representative of Raghopur constituency and served as the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar between 2015-2017. He is also the youngest Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.

Tejashwi has all these credits despite being accused of killing a Dalit leader for which an FIR was filed against him. Another FIR was filed against Tejashwi as an accused in the land-for-hotels case.

In 2009, Tejashwi campaigned on behalf of the RJD during the Lok Sabha elections. In 2015, Tejashwi won from the Raghopur constituency while his elder brother Tej Pratap won from Mahua.

During the recently held Bihar elections, he promised of creating 10 lakh job opportunities. He said he could promise 1 crore jobs but was not doing so as that will not be a reality. Thus, he seemed to be true in his words and the anti-incumbency too worked in favour of him, which helped his party secure 75 seats.

YSR descendant

Coming to the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, we can see a similar example in case of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Reddy is the son of former chief minister late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy who is alleged to have swindled thousands of crores of public money.

Soon after his father’s death in a chopper crash in September 2009, Reddy, who was 36 years then, appealed to AICC president Sonia Gandhi to allow him to occupy the post of his father but it was turned down.

Jagan was jailed on allegations of massive corruption and making astronomical gains in quid pro quo deals. However, he came out on bail and narrowly lost power to the Telugu Desam Party in 2014.

Jagan is accused in many ED and CBI cases which are still under probe.

However, Jagan had been successful in developing the connect with the public through his Praja Sankalpa Yatra. He walked for more than 3,648 km during which he met thousands of people and interacted with them, asking them about their problems and also knowing about their woes. The yatra helped him win 151 seats of the total 175 in the Assembly.

Now, Jagan is being hailed as the chief minister who is focused on welfare of the marginalised and minority communities.

Naidu’s lad

In such a scenario of hereditary politics proving beneficial, Lokesh, son of TDP supremo and former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, is yet to become successful.

He joined the TDP in May 2013 and worked on the election strategy for 2014 general elections. In 2017, he became Cabinet minister for information technology, panchayat raj and rural development.

He never won a direct election but held several key positions in both the TDP and Andhra Pradesh government. In 2014, he became TDP general secretary and party politburo member.

In 2019, he sought election as a MLA from the Mangalagiri constituency but lost to Alla Ramakrishna Reddy of the YCP.

However, he is still a member of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council.

With the TDP being pushed into a minority having won just 23 seats in the 2019 Assembly elections, Lokesh has an uphill task to win the hearts of the people and becoming the Chief Minister. Will be able to show his mettle in the 2024 elections?