- Thursday, February 06, 2025
Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party is a member of India’s ruling National Democratic Alliance led by the PM’s Bharatiya Janata Party and swept the state elections this year.
By: Shubham Ghosh
N CHANDRABABU NAIDU, who was often called as the ‘CEO chief minister’ of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh for his tech-savvy administration and his role in making the city of Hyderabad a tech hub, took oath to the top post once again on Wednesday (12), days after his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) swept the state elections held recently, alongside the national polls.
The 74-year-old leader, who has now become the chief minister of the state for the fourth time since 1995, was sworn in along with 24 members of his cabinet. The oath-taking ceremony was held on the outskirts of the city of Vijayawada in Anadhra Pradesh and top Indian leaders, including prime minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and health minister JP Nadda were present on the occasion.
Modi was seen giving Naidu a warm hug after the latter took his oath.
The prime minister later tweeted about the event in English and Telugu which he congratulated Naidu and other ministers who took oath.
Attended the oath taking ceremony of the new Andhra Pradesh Government. Congratulations to Shri @ncbn Garu on becoming the Chief Minister and also to all the others who took oath as Ministers in the Government. The @JaiTDP, @JanaSenaParty and @BJP4Andhra Government is fully… pic.twitter.com/ZCooS5ihIe
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 12, 2024
Read: Is 1999 behind Modi’s hesitation to give TDP Speaker’s post?
Naidu’s TDP joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party earlier this year and provided support to the Hindu nationalist party after it failed to get a majority on its own in the general elections. It finished as the second-largest party in the NDA in the national elections, winning 16.
Took oath as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh at the swearing-in ceremony in Amaravati today. I devote myself to serving the people of my state.
Thank you Andhra Pradesh! pic.twitter.com/reZbf4MuzV
— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) June 12, 2024
Naidu’s party was earlier a part of the NDA but severed its ties in 2018 on the question of granting financial assistance to Andhra Pradesh, which was bifurcated in 2014, resulting in the birth of the state of Telangana.
Read: Coalition era returns in Indian politics: Can Modi do a Vajpayee?
Pawan Kalyan, an actor-politician who leads the Jana Sena Party which is also a part of the NDA, was sworn in as the deputy chief minister at the event.
The NDA achieved a landslide win in the state elections of Andhra Pradesh this year, winning 164 of 175 seats out of which, 135 belong to the TDP itself. In the national elections, too, they won 21 of 25 seats, decimating the opposition YSR Congress Party which was in power in the state earlier.
Naidu had served as the chief minister of divided Andhra Pradesh for two terms — between 1995 and 2004. He also became the state’s first chief minister after it was split in 2014. He even survived an assassination attempt in his state in 2003.
While the TDP received some posts in the third Modi government that took oath on Sunday (9), negotiations were underway between the BJP and Naidu’s party over the position of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or Lower House of the Indian parliament.
