The youth see him on par with ex-IAS officer Jaya Prakash Narayana, who founded the Lok Satta Party with the same ideology in Telangana.
Published Dec 23, 2023 | 11:00 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 23, 2023 | 11:00 AM
JD Lakshmi Narayana launching the new party in Vijayawada. (Supplied)
Former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) joint director JD Lakshmi Narayana, aka VV Lakshmi Narayana, gained fame as a household name in the Telugu states for conducting various high-profile investigations.
He managed to create for himself the image of an upright lawman with his role in cases like the misappropriation of assets by current Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
With Lok Sabha and Assembly elections nearing in Andhra Pradesh, the former IPS officer on Friday, 23 December, floated a new political outfit, named the Jai Bharat National Party (JBNP).
So far, no top bureaucrat has succeeded in Telugu politics, but Narayana has exuded confidence and wants to try his hand at electoral politics.
‘JD’ Lakshmi Narayana was born on 3 April, 1965, in the Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh, and was brought up in the popular Shiva pilgrimage location of Srisailam of the Kurnool district.
He hails from a middle-class family. His father was an irrigation officer, and his mother was a schoolteacher.
He completed his MTech in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras in 1989. He then set his sights on UPSC, and secured an all-India civil rank of 204.
The 1990-batch IPS officer was placed in the Maharashtra cadre and initially served in Maharashtra as the superintendent of police for Nanded and later for the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad.
Later, on Central deputation, Lakshmi Narayana was placed in the CBI and worked in Andhra Pradesh for seven years.
This is where Lakshmi Narayana’s career took a turn. The IPS officer, with his impassioned speeches, became a role model for the youth in the Telugu states.
On Central deputation, Lakshmi Narayana dealt with the popular Satyam scandal involving Ramalinga Raju in 2009.
He would also go on to handle the case involving Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC), which was owned by former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy, and the Emaar Properties case.
VV Lakshmi Narayana when serving as CBI JD in Hyderabad. (Supplied)
With the cases he pursued, he was increasingly talked about in the department as an upright officer. He also became a prime-time figure on Telugu channels.
Lakshmi Narayana became even better known when he handled the high-profile political case of the current Andhra Chief Minister YS Jagan.
This was when, among the public, his initials changed from VV to JD — as he was acting as the joint director of the CBI at that time.
However, after a seven-year stint, Narayana had to return to the Maharashtra cadre. He was appointed as joint commissioner of police of Thane in March 2013.
Lakshmi Narayana was later promoted to additional director general of police — Planning and Coordination. He was even awarded the president’s police medal for his service in 2018.
Though Narayana had service until 2025, he pulled a surprise move and opted for voluntary retirement from services at an IG level in March 2018.
With a love for rural development, he even adopted the Peddamandadi village in Telangana’s Mahbubnagar district.
This is where his journey into politics began. After a year’s tour, during which he met farmers and labourers across the state and gained popularity among the public, Lakshmi Narayana entered the political arena.
He chose the Jana Sena Party, founded by the actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan.
Lakshmi Narayana always emphasised that politics should be clean — without crorepatis, criminals, and nepotism.
The digs were aimed at the YSRCP, led by Jagan, whom he had arrested in 2012, and Chandrababu Naidu, whom he refers to as a crorepati.
‘JD’ Lakshmi Narayana when he joined the Jana Sena Party. (Supplied)
He contested the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat on a Jana Sena ticket in 2019, but finished in third place, with nearly 3 lakh votes. He lost to actor-turned-businessman and YSRCP MP MVV Satyanarayana.
He resigned from the Jana Sena in January 2020, stating that Pawan Kalyan, who promised to remain in politics full-time, returned to films, making politics a part-time affair.
Since then, Lakshmi Narayana remained independent but often fought against the privatisation of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant by the BJP-led Union government.
In 2021, he filed a PIL in the Supreme Court challenging the privatisation move.
This made him quite popular among the youth, as all the regional parties were soft in their approach to the BJP.
This included the YSRCP, which had not opposed a single bill in Parliament, the Jana Sena, which rejoined the BJP alliance, and the TDP, which is trying to rekindle relations with the saffron party.
Meanwhile, Narayana has been interacting with various sections of the youth in Visakhapatnam.
Now, with a few months left for the elections, he has floated a new political outfit, named the Jai Bharat National Party.
Launching the party, JD Lakshmi Narayana said it was born to bring reforms in politics and would change the perspective of the common man towards politics.
He further promised to bring the Special Category status for Andhra Pradesh, which was promised by the BJP in 2014 as compensation after the bifurcation of the state, back to mainstream discussion.
He said, “This issue has been sidelined by the YSRCP, the TDP, and the Jana Sena.”
Interestingly, the youth apparently sees the former CBI JD on a par with former IAS officer Jaya Prakash Narayana, who founded the Lok Satta Party with the same ideology in Telangana.
He failed. But, Narayana said he was embarking on this new political journey with undeterred passion.
