Naidu To Take Oath As Andhra Pradesh CM Today

Telugu Desam Party president Nara Chandrababu Naidu will be sworn in as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, with 19 MLAs being sworn in as ministers, this evening.

The swearing-in ceremony will be held at the Acharya Nagarjuna University at Nambur village between Vijayawada and Guntur cities, at the auspicious moment of 7:27pm.

Naidu has reportedly sent a list of 19 MLAs who will sworn-in as ministers. They include K E Krishnamurthy and Chinna Rajappa, who will be made Deputy Chief Ministers.

Besides several chief ministers and other dignitaries, nearly 5 lakh people are expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony, which is being held outside the State capital of Hyderabad, the common capital for both the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Born on April 20, 1950, Naidu holds the record of being the longest serving Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, from 1995 to 2004.

He began his political career with the Congress Party, and won from the Chandragiri constituency in the 1978 elections. He was appointed as the Technical Education and Cinematography minister in T Anjaiah's cabinet at the age of 28, and was the youngest minister.

In 1980, he married Bhuvaneswari, NTR's second daughter. He stayed with the Congress when NTR launched the Telugu Desam Party in 1982 and swept the Assembly elections of 1983. Naidu too was defeated by a TDP candidate in Chandragiri.

Later, he joined the TDP. He got re-elected to the Assembly from the Kuppam constituency, and has retained the seat since then.

Led by Naidu, the TDP has returned to power in Seemandhra (Andhra Pradesh now) in 2014 after a gap of 10 years, and Sunday's swearing-in ceremony will mark the beginning of a new chapter in the history of TDP and in Naidu's political career. (INN)