TDP’s N Chandrababu Naidu sworn in as Andhra Pradesh chief minister
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu was sworn in as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for a fourth term on Wednesday, at an event that was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union ministers Amit Shah, JP Nadda and Nitin Gadkari, among others.
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu was sworn in as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for a fourth term on Wednesday, at an event that was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union ministers Amit Shah, JP Nadda and Nitin Gadkari, among others.
Naidu’s son and TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh and Jana Sena Party president Konidela Pawan Kalyan, who is likely to become deputy chief minister, were among 24 MLAs who were also administered the oath of office and secrecy by governor S Abdul Nazeer at the ceremony at Kesarapalli, near Gannavaram international airport on the outskirts of Vijayawada.
The Jana Sena Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are allies of the TDP as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
“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!” Naidu said in a post on X later in the day.
Modi, who hugged Naidu after the latter tried to touch his feet after being sworn-in, later wrote on X: “Attended the oath-taking ceremony of the new Andhra Pradesh government. Congratulations to Naidu on becoming the Chief Minister and also to all the others who took oath as ministers in the government.”
He added that the TDP, Jana Sena and BJP government in the southern state is “fully committed to taking AP (Andhra Pradesh) to new heights of glory and fulfilling the aspirations of the state’s youth”.
Thanking Modi, Naidu said: “Thank you, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji, for your august presence at the oath-taking ceremony in Amaravati today. The @JaiTDP, @JanaSenaParty and @BJP4Andhra Government will strive to deliver a people-centric governance. We’re grateful for your commitment to the future of our state.”
In the recently-held assembly elections, the NDA allies won 164 seats in the 175-member state assembly – 135 by the TDP, 21 by the Jana Sena and eight by the BJP. The YSR Congress party, led by outgoing chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, was reduced to 11 assembly seats.
On Tuesday, Naidu was unanimously elected as the leader of the NDA legislature party in the southern state at a meeting of the newly elected MLAs of all the three allies, paving the way for him to become the chief minister.
He served in the top post of combined Andhra Pradesh twice – in 1995 and 1999. He took over the residual part of the state after its bifurcation in 2014.
The NDA leaders, earlier this week, held hectic parleys on the formation of the state cabinet. As per the norms, the cabinet can comprise a maximum of 25 ministers besides the chief minister.
According to people aware of the details, the Jana Sena Party has been allocated three berths and the BJP one. One berth remains vacant and will be filled at a later stage, a TDP leader said, seeking anonymity.
As per an understanding during the formation of alliance before the polls, Naidu is most likely to offer the deputy chief minister post to Pawan Kalyan, who was elected from Pithapuram assembly constituency in East Godavari district, the people cited above said.
Meanwhile, TDP state president K Atchen Naidu and Jana Sena Party political affairs committee chairman Nadendla Manohar were also sworn-in at the event. The others are Vangalapudi Anitha, Anagani Satya Prasad, Nimmala Rama Naidu, Satya Kumar Yadav (BJP), Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Kollu Ravindra, Kolusu Partha Sarathy, Ponguru Narayana, N Md Farooq, Payyavula Kesav, Kandula Durgesh (Jana Sena), Dola Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy, Gottipati Ravi Kumar, Gummadi Sandhya Rani, B C Janardhan Reddy, T G Bharath, S Savitha, Vasamsetty Subhash, Kondapalli Kondapalli and Mandipalli Ram Prasad Reddy.
Of the 24 ministers who took oath, 17 are new timers. The cabinet comprises three women, eight leaders from the Backward Class, two from the Scheduled Caste, one from the Scheduled Tribe and one Muslim.
The event was also attended by former vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu, Union minister Chirag Paswan, Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and former chief justice of India N V Ramana. Actors K Chiranjeevi and Rajinikanth were also among the special guests seated on the dais.
Naidu government to release white papers on the state’s financial status
Later in the day, Naidu announced that his government will bring out a white paper on the state of affairs in each department to explain how they were destroyed by the previous government.
“We shall release white papers, department-wise, to put the record straight on the financial position of the state, anarchy in the administration and various financial irregularities in each department in the last five years,” he said in an informal interaction with his cabinet colleagues at his residence, before leaving for Tirumala in the evening