Tongues wag as Lokesh falters during oath-taking
Nara Lokesh faltered a little during his swearing-in as an MLC on Thursday, causing some tongues to wag regarding his competence in his mother tongue.
He later attended the Legislative Council along with other elected MLCs who had also taken the oath on Thursday, though they were sworn in, in the Council Hall, while Mr Lokesh took the oath in the Legislative Council chairman’s chamber.
Mr Lokesh was sworn in at 9.45 am in the presence of his father-in-law N. Balakrishna, some ministers, Telugu Desam MLAs and other senior leaders. Council Chairman A. Chakrapani administered the oath.
The awkward moment came when Mr Lokesh stopped while pronouncing the words Sarvabhoumadhikaram and Sraddasaktulu
but finally completed the oath-taking.
After the oath-taking ceremony, Mr Balakrishna hugged Mr Lokesh and blessed him, and later Mr Lokesh met his father, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and received his blessings.
The other newly-elected members who took the oath in the Council Hall were Karanam Balarama Krishna Murthy, Dokka Manikya Varaprasad, Batchula Arjunudu, M. Ravindranatha Reddy, G. Deepak Reddy, Pothula Sunita of the TD, P.V.N. Madhav of the BJP, K. Narasimha Reddy and Y. Srinivasulu Reddy of the Progressive Democratic Front.
Mr Lokesh had earlier on paid homage to the TD’s founder and his maternal grandfather, the late N.T. Rama Rao, at the party’s state office in Guntur.