Chandrababu sworn in as Chief Minister for 4th term

Amaravati : TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for a fourth term on Wednesday at a ceremony that was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior BJP leaders and Union Ministers.

Jana Sena chief and actor Pawan Kalyan and Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh were among the 24 Ministers in Naidu’s cabinet who were administered the oath of office by Governor S Abdul Nazeer.

PM Modi hugged and patted Chandrababu Naidu after the TDP supremo took the oath of office. The ceremony was also attended by Union Ministers Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari and J P Nadda. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was also present. “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,” said Modi in a post on X. 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”, Modi said.

Thanking Modi, Naidu said, “Thank you PM Narendra Modiji, for your august presence at the oath-taking ceremony in Amaravati today.” Naidu vowed that the TDP, Jana Sena and BJP government will strive to deliver people-centric governance. Shah also congratulated Naidu and “Deputy Chief Minister” Pawan Kalyan and all others who took the oath of office.

“It is my firm belief that the NDA government will pivot the State of Andhra Pradesh to new heights of prosperity, fulfilling the aspirations and hopes of the people,” the Union Home Minister said.

After the swearing-in ceremony, Modi hugged Telugu megastar Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan and fondly spoke to them while holding their hands. The Prime Minister also had a brief conversation with former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, Tamil superstar Rajinikanth and his wife Latha on the dais. Naidu retained his Kuppam constituency while Pawan Kalyan and Lokesh won from the Pithapuram and Mangalagiri Assembly constituencies respectively in the recently held polls.

The Pawan Kalyan-led party has got three berths and the BJP one in the new State government. As per the strength of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly (175), the Cabinet can have 26 Ministers, including the Chief Minister. TDP legislators K Atchannaidu, P Narayana, Kollu Ravindra, Nimmala Rama Naidu, Anitha Vangalapudi, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Kolusu Parthasarathy and NMD Farooq also took the oath. Others who were sworn in were Payyavula Keshav, A Satya Prasad, Dola Sree Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy, Gottipati Ravi Kumar, Gummadi Sandhya Rani, BC Janardhan Reddy, T G Bharath, S Savitha, Vasamsetty Subhash, Kondapalli Srinivas and Mandipalli Ram Prasad Reddy.

From the Jana Sena Party, Nadendla Manohar and Kandula Durgesh, and from the BJP Satya Kumar Yadav took oath as Ministers along with Pawan Kalyan. Eight ministers belong to BC communities, one from the minority Muslim community, two from SC, and one from ST. Three Ministers are women.

In separate meetings on Tuesday, the Telugu Desam Legislature Party and NDA partners elected Naidu as their leader. The NDA, comprising TDP, BJP and Jana Sena, won a landslide victory in the recently concluded simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the State with a huge majority of 164 out of the total 175 Assembly seats and 21 out of the total 25 Lok Sabha seats.

Former Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu and Ex-Chief Justice of India N V Ramana were also present at the swearing-in ceremony.

TDP leaders and sympathisers gathered in large number at the venuen to directly witness the swearing-in ceremony of their leader Chandrababu Naidu. Union Ministers G Kishan Reddy, Bandi Sanjay, Pemmasani Chandrasekhar, Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Chirag Paswan, Anupriya Patel and former Telangana Governor Tamilsai Soundarajan were among those who attended the function.