Nara Lokesh takes oath as MLC in Amaravati

Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu's son Nara Lokesh on Thursday sworn-in as MLC in amaravati.

Amaravati: Telugu Desam Party general secretary Nara Lokesh on Thursday took oath as Member of a Legislative Council in Amaravati along with other members. Nara Lokesh sworn-in with the help of Legislative Council chairman Chakrapani.

The other members who also took oath as MLCs were Bachchula Arjunudu, Karanam Balaram Krishna Murthy, Dokka Manikya Vara Prasad, B Tech Ravi, Pothula Suneetha, Deepak Reddy from TDP, Madhav from BJP, Kathi Narasimha Reddy and Sreenivasulu Reddy from left parties.

Senior party leader Nandamuri Balakrishna and other MLCs attended the swearing-in ceremony.

Before the TDP won the full majority in MLC polls in the state, the party chief Chandrababu Naidu's son Nara Lokesh has been in the headlines for sometime for reasons like assets declaration and then the berth confirmation in the father's state Cabinet.

In the assets Declaration, Nara Lokesh who filed nomination on March 8 for an MLC seat is believed to possess assets around Rs 330 crore, 23 times higher than his declared assets in October 2016. His assets include shares worth Rs 273.84 crore in form of family-run Heritage Foods, fixed assets worth Rs 18 crore and ancestral property worth Rs 38.52 crore. It seems he has loans of Rs 6.27 crore in addition.

The details of assets submitted by Lokesh look strikingly different when compared with the declared assets of his family on October 19, 2016, in public. During the declaration of assets, Lokesh had said that the property he owns is Rs 14.50 crore, including Rs 2.52 in form of shares in the family enterprise, Rs 1.64 crore shares in other companies and a car worth Rs 93 lakh. Besides, he had said that has loans of Rs 6.35 crore.

Interestingly, Heritage's retail was sold to Future Retail Ltd on November 8, 2016, but retained only a 3.65 per cent stake, and yet Lokesh's shares have gone up to Rs 273.84 crore from Rs 2.52 crore. In his affidavit to the EC, the Telugu Desam Party general secretary also declared his wife Nara Brahmani's and his two-year-old son Devansh's assets. In the affidavit, TDP general secretary declared his wife assets as Rs 28 crore, but in October he declared his wife assets as Rs 5.38 crore. His son Devansh's assets remained the same at Rs 11.70 crore.

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