00:00All right, let's get you now an excerpt of the India Today South Conclave.
00:04I'm here in Kochi as the sun sets on day two of the India Today South Conclave.
00:09Let's get you an excerpt of the exclusive conversation that my colleague Rajdeep Sardesai had with Nara Lokesh.
00:15The Andhra Pradesh minister spoke out on all of the questions, the criticism over the SIR process.
00:20The TDP is part of the NDA and so interestingly the TDP in the face of so many parties questioning
00:25it
00:26has come out in defence of the CEC.
00:28Listen in to Nara Lokesh.
00:41Hello and welcome once again ladies and gentlemen to the India Today South Conclave here in the lovely city of
00:49Kochi
00:49where we are joined by a very special guest, someone who represents the gen next of leaders in this country.
00:57His father is the senior most chief minister that India has at the moment and he is seen as the
01:04face of the future.
01:05Please welcome the Telugu Desam leader Nara Lokesh, minister for HRD, IT, electronics and communications and real-time governance.
01:14Good to have you Lokesh on the show.
01:17I want to start by two hot-button topics which are resonating nationally not just in Andhra Pradesh but across
01:23the country.
01:24The first is the election commission.
01:28Where does the TDP stand?
01:30Because immediately after when this entire election commission issue blew up, your leader of the Lok Sabha, who is probably
01:38here, said that the EC should clarify in the interest of transparency.
01:44Now it seems all is well. The TDP seems to have suddenly no problem with the EC. Where does the
01:51TDP stand? Do you believe that Gyanesh Kumar ji should step down as the rest of the opposition is demanding?
02:00Thank you very much for having me in the session and I love the first question. It is a hot
02:05topic.
02:07I believe that there is responsibility on the people also who are questioning the system.
02:13Now you see a lot of political parties also questioning regarding SAR.
02:18As a political party, Telugu Desam party has always sought clarifications on various subjects related to SAR in opposition even
02:27when we are in power.
02:29In fact, as recently as about a year back we sought a lot of clarification because we also went through
02:34our own SAR process.
02:36So is the system perfect? Absolutely not. There are areas of improvement like any system is.
02:41But is the intent there to make it better, to resolve the issues that need resolution, that is in place.
02:48So as a party we have seen the letter that the election commissioners put out. We believe that is in
02:54order.
02:54So you don't agree with the Rahul Gandhi view that the EC is working at the behest of the BJP
02:59or the NDA leadership,
03:02that the Gyanesh Kumar ji has been put there as a hatchet man to ensure that every election is won
03:09by the BJP according to him irrespective of anti-incumbency.
03:12Well, he won elections in Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana. So there is no role of SIR. If you lose there is
03:23a role of SIR.
03:25I mean where is your organization to even look at votes? Where votes are getting added? Have you done any
03:30homework? Where is your boot level organization?
03:32In absent of it, you are blaming the election commission. Your father Chandra Babu Naidu ji was in alliance with
03:38the Congress in 2019.
03:39There is a tweet of him which still stands where he said that the EC is destroying democracy along with
03:46the BJP.
03:47Now today you are coming out in defense of the EC and the BJP. It seems in Indian politics where
03:51you stand depends on where you sit.
03:53In our case, we believe based on facts and data. Our belief system is quite clear.
03:59Acts could not have been different location 2019 to 2026.
04:03No, but we continue to fight. Who said we don't? We have expressed our opinions. We have gone to election
04:08commission multiple times.
04:10We have stated that, you know, SIR should be done in a certain way. We have our opinion at the
04:14table. We continue to voice our opinion.
04:17So I want to understand, what is the TDP's role? Are you a constructive critic within the government? What is
04:23the TDP's stand within the NDA? Are you completely committed to the BJP and Narendra Modi ji?
04:29We are an ally of NDA. We have an opinion on a subject. We will voice it within the four
04:35walls. And similarly, the Wakaf bill went to JPC. We gave our input. In various other matters, we have given
04:42our input and we will continue to do it.
04:44We will continue to play a role in the India government. We will continue to give our feedback to the
04:50government.
04:50So you are very clear that when the opposition calls for the impeachment of the CEC, when the opposition starts,
04:57says that they're going to have a jail-bharo-andolan or street-wide protest,
05:00TDP will stand firmly by the Narendra Modi government on this issue. You don't see that the BJP has tried
05:08to game the system or fix the system to ensure that they win elections.
05:12If they gamed and fixed the system, then why did they lose Kerala?
05:16Because the BJP is not a major force in Kerala.
05:19The BJP, you could argue that Congress and the BRS were the top two forces.
05:23Can you say that? If you look at it in the Parliament elections, majority of the MP seats were won
05:28by BJP.
05:30Same thing in Kerala. So see, it's political convenience to blame. But then do you have an institutional framework in
05:37the field to ensure that the voting is mapped?
05:40It's not there for Congress. It's easy to blame when you lose on election commission. When you win, you can
05:45say that there are various other reasons that you won an election on.
05:47In many ways, I don't know where you qualify. You're 43. You're a millennial.
05:53But I want to understand, where do you stand on this Gen Z and the angst of a younger India,
06:00which seems, after particularly the rise of the Cockroach Janata Party, to be railing against the system?
06:06They become anti-establishment. Do you believe Gen Z has a genuine reason to be angry?
06:13Fundamentally, I believe that we are seeing a new movement in India where it has nothing to do with caste,
06:19religion or region.
06:20It has to do with the demographic, where there is a set of youngsters who believe that the system has
06:25to be transformed.
06:27I believe that are there areas to improve? Absolutely. Even in our own government, I believe that there are multiple
06:33areas that we can do better.
06:35So what really excites me is that now we've identified the problems. We understand where we stand.
06:40As youngsters, all of us can come together and find solutions to those problems.
06:45I don't know the way we stand on it.
06:45I may not understand why are we
