“TDP has always been and will remain a secular party. No one’s quota would be taken away by us. No one should be worried about that. BJP’s stance that it would remove religion-based quota is if that party comes to power on its own, not when it is a coalition government. I want to assure that the TDP will not withdraw the quota of any community. Chandrababu Naidu has always maintained that socially and economically backward communities, irrespective of religion or caste, should get benefits in order to tackle poverty, and that will continue,” he said.

During campaigning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the Congress tried to extend reservation on the basis of religion and give it to Muslims. Speaking in Rajasthan, he had said that as soon as the Congress formed the government at the Center in 2004, one of its first tasks was “reducing the SC/ST reservation in Andhra Pradesh” and giving it to Muslims.

“This was a pilot project which the Congress wanted to try in the entire country. Between 2004 and 2010, the Congress tried to implement Muslim reservation in Andhra Pradesh four times but due to legal hurdles and the awareness of the Supreme Court, it could not fulfill its intention… In 2011, the Congress tried to implement it throughout the country, ” he had claimed.

On the hot-button issue of delimitation that the BJP is proposing to carry out by 2026, Lokesh said that the TDP will ensure decisions are not taken in isolation and that interests and representation of not only Andhra Pradesh but other states, too, are kept. in mind. “Issues like delimitation, Uniform Civil Code, etc will be discussed at length and resolved amicably. We will sit together with partners across the table and try to achieve a consensus on all these issues. There is a lot to discuss,” he said.

In an interview to The Indian Express before the results, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, when asked what’s expected on delimitation if the NDA gets a third term, had said, “We have already said that there will be no injustice with the South after delimitation. . We have to discover ways.” He had added that delimitation would not be deferred.

On the issue of granting Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh, Lokesh said that although the TDP joined the NDA unconditionally, they will keep the interests of the state and its people in mind.

“Our priority is to create 20 lakh jobs as promised in the manifesto and bring investments. SCS will definitely help in this and we will discuss all these issues in the coming days and meet the new finance commission. Right now, our support to the NDA and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unconditional because the country needs a strong leader like him,” Lokesh said.

He also said that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister-designate Chandrababu Naidu has sought a report from the Director General of Police (DGP) on whether Pegasus was used to allegedly tap the phones belonging to the father-son duo by the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy regime.

Lokesh said he and his father were targeted twice and that they received alerts on their mobile phones. “I have been targeted twice, once during my Yuva Galam yatra in March 2023 and once this April during campaigning. We both received alerts from Apple. We suspect that Pegasus was used by the Jagan government to tap our phones,” Lokesh said.

According to Lokesh, there were indications that the previous government acquired Pegasus off the books and operated it from a location outside the state.

“We want to know from where it was procured and from which location it was operated and who all were targeted,” he said. Lokesh said that as it became clear that it was losing, the Jagan government destroyed evidence in some offices. He said that a police inquiry will reveal what has been erased.

His allegations come against the backdrop of the phone tapping case during the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) regime in Telangana, where some officials of the Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) led by then SIB DIG Prabhakar Rao allegedly tapped the phones and conducted electronic surveillance on opposition political leaders and activists.

According to police sources, former Deputy Commissioner of Police (Task Force, Hyderabad City) P Radhakishan Rao has confessed to his involvement in the tapping of phones by some officers in the Telangana SIB when the BRS government was in power.