Vijayawada: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday took oath as the Andhra Pradesh chief minister. Jana Sena Party (JSP) chief Pawan Kalyan, Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh and senior JSP leader Nadendla Manohar were also among those who took the oath of office.
After taking the oath of office, Naidu hugged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who also shared the dais with the Andhra Pradesh CM. PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda, Road Transport & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, and Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde were present at the occasion.
Among others present were Ramdas Athawale, Anupriya Patel, Chirag Paswan, NCP leader Praful Patel and former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu. Besides the who’s who of the world of politics, South Indian superstars Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi, Ram Charan, Nandamuri Balakrishna (NBK) and Rajinikanth were also present at the occasion.
Former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan also attended Chandrababu Naidu’s swearing-in ceremony. With this, Chandrababu Naidu is the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for the fourth term. In first two terms as chief minister, Naidu was at the helm of affairs of the undivided Andhra Pradesh.
His tenure began in 1995 and ended in 2004. Upon the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, Chandrababu Naidu was sworn in as the first CM of divided Andhra Pradesh. He lost the assembly polls in 2019, paving the way for YSR Congress’ Jagan Mohan Reddy to take charge. The NDA achieved a landslide victory in the recent simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly elections, securing 164 out of 175 assembly seats and 21 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats. The TDP chief will mark his return on the CM post for a fourth term, ousting the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party’s (YSRCP) YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Earlier, Chandrababu Naidu said that Amravati will be the capital of the state while addressing the legislators’ meeting in Vijayawada on Tuesday. He said, “There will be no situation where we will be playing with states future saying three capitals , our capital is Amaravati and Amaravati will continue to be our capital. Vishakapatnam will be financial capital and will make it developed city,”
