Nara Lokesh — Andhra Pradesh MLA and son of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu –took on YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress in the state assembly today, accusing them of insulting his mother and then “running away”. In an emotional speech in the house, he accused the former Chief Minister of defending them by giving them tickets in the recent assembly elections in the state.
That message was later reiterated in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“My mother was insulted. Don’t you remember insulting my mother that day? We never talked about Jagan’s family. Chandrababu came to the Assembly every day. After insulting my mother, they walked out of the assembly. Now I am questioning YSRCP — why your MLAs did not come? When you gave YSRCP tickets to those who insulted my mother, didn’t you defend them, Jagan?” read a rough translation of the post.
His attack came on the heels of the YSR Congress’s boycott of the budget session of the assembly. YSRCP, decimated in the assembly polls, now has only 11 members in the house, including Mr Reddy.
Mr Lokesh made the point that his father attended the state assembly every day and quit it only when his wife was insulted in the assembly.
The incident took place in November 2021. While it was not clear at the time what was said about his wife, Mr Naidu later broke down before the media and swore that he would come back to the assembly only when he had won the election.
Nara Lokesh accused the YSR Congress of not only targeting his mother but women of the families of political leaders they do not see eye to eye with. That list includes Mr Naidu’s wife and mother, Nara Lokesh’s wife, the daughters of Pawan Kalyan and even Jaganmohan Reddy’s sister YS Sharmila, who is the state Congress chief and his mother following a rift in the family.
This targeting of women to settle political scores has trigged a massive crackdown by the Chandrababu Naidu government on social media posts that are derogatory to women.
The YSR Congress or its chief are yet to respond to Mr Lokesh’s allegations.