People often have certain perceptions about political leaders, including that they display extravagance or a sense of authority. Dr Pilli Gururaja, the newly appointed president of Global NRI TDP, recalled that he had similar assumptions when he first met Nara Lokesh and initially wanted to observe how Nara Lokesh would behave. Dr Pilli Gururaja said he was surprised by Nara Lokesh’s conduct and shared an incident from their first meeting while speaking in an interview about Nara Lokesh’s personality and leadership qualities.
Recalling his first meeting with Nara Lokesh in Dallas in 2013, Dr Pilli Gururaja said he and Ravi Vemuru had gone to receive Nara Lokesh at the airport.
“We met Nara Lokesh at the airport that day. At the time, we had a certain perception of political leaders. We had already decided that if the luggage arrived and Nara Lokesh asked us to carry the suitcases and put them in the car, that would be our last journey with Nara Lokesh. But what happened was completely different. Nara Lokesh personally picked up our suitcases as well and placed them in the car. That one incident showed us what kind of person Nara Lokesh was,” Dr Pilli Gururaja said.
Dr Pilli Gururaja said Nara Lokesh’s way of thinking also reflected his personality.
“Nara Lokesh has the generosity to tell party workers, ‘This ocean is made up of small drops of water like you. If you come and merge with it, you too become the ocean.’ Nara Lokesh strongly believes that party workers are the strength of the party, that leaders may come and go, but workers remain permanent,” Dr Pilli Gururaja said.
He also described Nara Lokesh as possessing traits associated with both Nara Lokesh’s grandfather, Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, and father, Nara Chandrababu Naidu.
“If the mass appeal of Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao and the class of Nara Chandrababu Naidu were blended together, the result would be Nara Lokesh. Nara Lokesh has the unwavering courage of Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao and the vision of Nara Chandrababu Naidu. We saw how many hardships Nara Lokesh faced during the Yuvagalam Padayatra. Once Nara Lokesh gives his word, He stands by it. It feels as though he would not back down from keeping that promise even if the gods themselves stood in the way,” Dr Pilli Gururaja said, expressing his confidence in Nara Lokesh.
Dr Pilli Gururaja said it made him proud to see the humble person they encountered that day grow into a leader who now leads lakhs of people.
He Carried Our Suitcases Too: Dr Pilli Gururaja on His First Meeting with Nara Lokesh
