Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh was at the receiving end of trolls on Twitter, after his father and state Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday extended his birthday wishes publicly.
“Blessings and wishes to Telugu youth icon and charismatic leader, Nara Lokesh, on his birthday. May you be blessed with greater strength and determination to serve the citizens of Andhra Pradesh,” Naidu tweeted, for Lokesh’s 35th birthday.
Naidu and Lokesh are presently in Davos, Switzerland, attending the World Economic Forum (WEF).
While many wished Lokesh on his birthday and said positive things about him, the replies to the tweet by Naidu was soon overrun with memes and jokes.
While some suggested that Lokesh was far from a youth icon, others began suggesting that the state Minister himself, was tweeting from his father’s account.
See some of the replies below.
Blessings and wishes to Telugu youth icon and charismatic leader, Nara Lokesh, on his birthday. May you be blessed with greater strength and determination to serve the citizens of Andhra Pradesh.
— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) January 23, 2018
Youth icon pic.twitter.com/TxS47vJazI
— Ravi Teja Reddy (@4ever_Introvert) January 23, 2018
We will accept him as an youth icon when he will be elected by the people not by his father, this not at all fare by giving ministry in IT and panchayithiraj , there are so many MLAs left in TDP party who elected more than once as an MLA by the people.
— vijayasimha reddy (@vijayasimhare15) January 23, 2018
happy birthday Youth ICON Lokesh anna pic.twitter.com/c79ZHjr6ms
— Arya (@ARYA_RAOO) January 23, 2018
Telugu youth icon and charismatic leader, Nara Lokesh pic.twitter.com/uoAo2NzdcJ
— Srikar (@SrikarNTR) January 23, 2018
Yup, He is a Youth Icon for Telugu, since he don't know how to pronounce few of Telugu words, adding that don't know the difference between Jayanthi and Vardhanthi...
— Raviteja Guna (@ravitejaguna) January 23, 2018
Crazy.... Quote.. Early morning Full Fun....
Youth pic.twitter.com/3vpDeh9tJ0
— dinesh Venkat (@VenkatdineshV) January 23, 2018
Words like "Youth icon" and "Charismatic leader" should come frm people's voice. Didn't expect this kinda tweet frm @ncbn. What's he doing to achieve AP bifurcation promises. Why didn't he contest in direct election if he is really charismatic. I feel @KTRTRS deserve those words.
— Ashok (@TheAshokPidugu) January 23, 2018
Happy birtday to lokesh garu and whoever that youth icon may be https://t.co/aNcYb7WucN
— Chalo re chal (@ramattili19) January 23, 2018
Youth aa pic.twitter.com/BwezucmNUO
— Magneto (@starky_pspk) January 23, 2018
Happy Birthday to the person who tweeted this
— Akhil Eppalapally (@akhilimz) January 23, 2018
Youth icon.. Charismatic leader
— A man has no name (@Disturbedsoul1) January 23, 2018
Lokesh babai.. Daddy account nundi nuvve tweet eskunnava https://t.co/HHWqXOldEg
Lokesh was elected to the state legislative council in February last year, and is a first-time minister. He was inducted into the cabinet in the first week of April last year.
Many had criticised him at the time of winning through the party’s nomination on an uncontested seat, rather than winning through the people’s votes.
Lokesh became Minister after Naidu distributed portfolios which he had been holding since 2014 and also reallocated the portfolios of five ministers who were dropped from the cabinet.
This was the first expansion, since the formation of the state in 2014.
While many supporters of the TDP have received Lokesh well, several people were also circulating videos of his public fumbles on social media.
His critics have dubbed him ‘Andhra pappu’, which is a local version of the same ‘pappu’ term used to refer to Congress President Rahul Gandhi.