Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu envisages AP as the “Sunrise state”. However, many have already termed the party as the “son rise” given his son Nara Lokesh’s meteoric rise in the party since his father came to power.

Mr Lokesh debuted as a campaigner ahead of the recent general elections, and after the Telugu Desam came to power, he became the second-most important person in the party after his father.

He played a key role in making Mahanadu a success. It was he who advised Mr Naidu to announce the party workers’ welfare fund at the Mahanadu, which he was later made in-charge of.

Mr Lokesh made the party’s membership drive a personal crusade and created history with the enrollment of more than 50 lakh members. Earlier too, he had successfully implemented online membership in Kuppam, his father’s Assembly constituency. He has now implemented it throughout the state.

To attract people to take up active membership in the Telugu Desam, Mr Lokesh, for the first time, introduced insurance, concessions in selected corporate hospitals and private travels.

This scheme attracted many people to become active members. Thanks to his endeavors, the TD stood at number one in the country with a record membership of more than 50 lakh and increasing.

He has now taken up the challenge of increasing he party’s membership in Telangana State, where it’s only around 5 lakh.

While Mr Lokesh is visible in party activities, he prefers to remain behind the scenes in the government. TD leaders say that Mr Lokesh plays important roles in the appointment of officers in key areas, state schemes and selecting party leaders and workers for nominated posts.

A special team under Mr Lokesh works at the NTR Bhavan for screening party leaders and workers who are aspiring for nominated posts. In fact, Mr Naidu passes on all applications for nominated posts to the team to analyse.

Party leaders say that Mr Lokesh also has a hand in conceptualising the new capital and discusses the same with his “leader”

It is, thus, safe to say that after five years, Mr Naidu will definitely see “son rise” if not “sunrise” in AP.