NEW DELHI: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday took oath as the 18th chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in a ceremony held at Kesarpalli IT Park in Gannavaram Mandal, on the outskirts of Vijayawada. Jana Sena chief and actor
Pawan Kalyan
took oath as the deputy chief minister.
The oath-taking ceremony was attended by top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
, Union ministers, Amit Shah, and JP Nadda, among others.
Along with Naidu, a 24-member Cabinet also took the oath of office.
The TDP-BJP-Janasena National Democratic Alliance, led by Naidu, secured a landslide victory in both the assembly and parliamentary elections. Naidu was unanimously elected as the leader of the NDA in the Andhra Legislative Assembly during a meeting of the TDP, Janasena Party, and BJP legislators on Tuesday. Subsequently, Andhra Governor S Abdul Nazeer invited Naidu to form the government.
This marks Naidu’s fourth term as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh and his second term since the state’s bifurcation in 2014. In the 175-member Andhra Pradesh assembly, the TDP holds a majority with 135 MLAs, while its allies, the Janasena Party and BJP, have 21 and eight legislators, respectively. The opposition YSR Congress Party has 11 MLAs.
The Cabinet will consist of 21 MLAs from the TDP, three from the Janasena Party, and one from the BJP. The TDP MLAs who took the oath include Nara Lokesh, Kinjarapu Atchannaidu, Nimmala Ramanaidu, NMD Farooq, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, and others.
Konidela Pawan Kalyan, Nadendla Manohar, and Kandula Durgesh represent the Janasena Party, while Satya Kumar Yadav is the sole BJP MLA who took the oath as a minister in Naidu’s cabinet.
Naidu’s political career as chief minister began in 1995, before the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, and he led the state for nine consecutive years until 2004. He returned as the chief minister of the bifurcated Andhra Pradesh in 2014 and served until 2019 when the YSR Congress, led by Jagan Mohan Reddy, came to power, winning 151 of the 175 seats.
