Chandrababu Naidu set to take oath as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister

Vijayawada, June 11 (IANS) Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President Nara Chandrababu Naidu is all set to be sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh here on Wednesday.  

Jana Sena Party (JSP) President and actor Pawan Kalyan, Naidu’s son and TDP General Secretary Nara Lokesh, senior leaders like Kanna Lakshminarayana, Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, Butchaiah Chowdary, Atchen Naidu, and Jana Sena besides a couple of MLAs from BJP are likely to take oath as ministers.

At 11.27 a.m., Governor S. Abdul Nazeer will administer the oath of office and secrecy to 74-year-old Naidu, who led the National Democratic Alliance to a landslide victory in the just-concluded elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, other central ministers, leaders of NDA partners and Chief Ministers of some states will be attending the swearing-in, to be held at Kesarapalli IT Park near Gannavaram Airport.

The Prime Minister will land at Gannavaram Airport from Delhi at 10.40 a.m. He will then proceed to the venue and attend the swearing-in ceremony from 11 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., and then leave for Bhubaneswar at 12.45 p.m.

There was no official information about the number of ministers to take oath along with Naidu. Naidu may initially induct a few ministers from all three NDA partners and later go for an expansion.

Pawan Kalyan’s role remained unclear. There are reports that he may be appointed Deputy Chief Minister.

On Tuesday morning, Naidu was unanimously elected as the leader of NDA. Pawan Kalyan and state BJP chief D. Purandeswari attended the meeting of the newly-elected NDA MLAs. At separate meetings, newly-elected MLAs of the TDP and the Jana Sena unanimously elected Naidu and Pawan Kalyan as their leaders, respectively.

Purandeswari, who was elected to Lok Sabha, also held a meeting with BJP MLAs. She asked them to abide by the decision of the party’s central leadership on the party leader in the Assembly.

Jana Sena MLA Manohar, Purandeswari and state TDP President Atchen Naidu later called on the Governor to stake claim for forming the government, informing him that Naidu was unanimously elected leader by the NDA MLAs.

In the evening, Naidu called on the Governor, who invited him to form the government.

Naidu will be taking oath as the Chief Minister for a record fourth time. He had served as Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh for two terms from 1995 to 2004. The TDP supremo was also the first Chief Minister of bifurcated Andhra Pradesh from 2014 to 2019.

The TDP-led alliance wrested power from the YSR Congress with a massive mandate, bagging 164 seats in the 175-member Assembly. The TDP alone won 135 seats while the Jana Sena bagged all 21 seats it contested. The BJP won eight out of 10 seats it contested. The YSRCP, which had 151 members in the previous Assembly, has been reduced to just 11.

--IANS

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