Amidst much fanfare and jubilation, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief, took oath as the 18th Chief Member of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday at a grand event held at Kesarpalli IT Park in Gannavaram Mandal.
The ceremony was graced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who shared a warm hug with Naidu on stage, symbolising the camaraderie between the two leaders. This marks the fourth term for Naidu as the chief minister and his second tenure after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014.
The swearing-in ceremony witnessed the attendance of several Union Ministers including Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Nitin Gadkari, Rammohan Naidu, and Chirag Paswan. Andhra Pradesh Governor S Abdul Nazeer, former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, and Naidu’s wife Nara Bhuvaneshwari were also present on this significant occasion.
In a memorable moment, as Chandrababu Naidu was about to salute, Prime Minister Modi stopped him and embraced him warmly, eliciting cheers and whistles from the audience.
This spontaneous display of affection sent ripples of excitement through the gathered crowd. Following this, Naidu bowed to the other dignitaries present on the stage. The event also included the swearing-in of Janasena Party chief Pawan Kalyan, along with TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh and party’s State president Kinjarapu Atchannaidu as ministers in Naidu’s Cabinet. Additionally, TDP MLAs Nimmala Ramanaidu, NMD Farooq, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Payyavula Kesav, Kollu Ravindra, Ponguru Narayana, Vangalapudi Anita, Anagani Satya Prasad, Kolusu Parthasaradhi, Kola Balaveeranjaneya Swamy, Gottipati Ravi, Gummadi Sandhyarani, BC Janardhan Reddy, TG Bharath, S Savitha, Vasamsetty Subhash, Kondapalli Srinivas and Mandipalli Ramprasad Reddy also took oath as ministers during the ceremony.
From the Janasena Party, MLAs Nadendla Manohar and Kandula Durgesh, along with BJP’s Satya Kumar Yadav, were also sworn in as part of the 25-member Naidu cabinet. The ceremony was attended by notable personalities including former Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, NCP leader Praful Patel, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, and film actors Chiranjeevi, Rajnikanth, Nandamuri Balakrishna, and Ram Charan. Naidu, who first became chief minister in 1995, led the undivided Andhra Pradesh until 2004.
He returned as the chief minister of the bifurcated Andhra Pradesh in 2014 and served until 2019. This latest victory saw the TDP-BJP-Janasena alliance secure a landslide win in both the Assembly and parliamentary elections, with TDP holding a majority in the 175-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly with 135 MLAs, followed by its allies Janasena Party with 21, and BJP with eight.
The opposition YSR Congress Party was reduced to a mere 11 seats. The jubilant atmosphere during the swearing-in ceremony underscored the public’s enthusiasm and support for Naidu’s leadership, setting a promising tone for his upcoming term.