Telugu Desam Party’s Nara Chandrababu Naidu was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday, June 12, at a grand ceremony attended by several Union Ministers and key leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The event was held at the Kesarapalli IT Park near Gannavaram Airport on the outskirts of Vijayawada in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah among other leaders and cinema icons.
Naidu has previously served as the Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh twice between 1995 and 2004 and once after bifurcation. In 2021, he walked out of the Assembly after his wife Nara Bhuvaneshwari was allegedly insulted by some MLAs of the YSR Congress Party and vowed to return only after taking oath as the Chief Minister.
A total of 24 ministers of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) took oath. The ministers include three from Jana Sena and one from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). After taking oath as a minister, Jana Sena leader Pawan Kalyan went up to his elder brother megastar Chiranjeevi and touched his feet. Chandrababu Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh also took the oath as a minister.
Naidu led the Telugu Desam Party-Bharatiya Janata Party-Jana Sena coalition of the NDA alliance to a landslide victory defeating the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). The alliance won 164 out of 175 seats in the Assembly elections and 21 out of the 25 seats in the Lok Sabha election.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Amit Shah and JP Nadda arrived in Andhra Pradesh on June 11, Tuesday and held a meeting with Chandrababu Naidu. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Rajasthan CM Bhajan Lal Sharma, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, Union Ministers Bandi Sanjay, NCP leader Praful Patel and Telangana BJP leaders Eatala Rajender were also in attendance. The event, a star-studded affair, was also attended by actors Rajinikanth, Mohan Babu, and Chiranjeevi among others. Chiranjeevi, a former Rajya Sabha member, is the elder brother of Pawan Kalyan. Actors Ram Charan and Allu Arjun, nephews of JSP chief Pawan Kalyan, were also present.
Governor Abdul Nazeer administered the swearing in ceremony of Naidu and his cabinet ministers. Three turn coats Anam Ramanaraya Reddy, Mandipalli Ram Prasad Reddy and Kolusu Parthasarathy who switched from the YSRCP and the TDP were given cabinet posts.
The cabinet includes 12 from forward communities- four members from the Kamma caste, four members from Kapu caste, three members from the Reddy community and one from the Arya Vaisya community. Eight from different sub-castes of the Backward Class community; one each from the Muslim minority and Scheduled Tribe; and two members from the Scheduled Caste community took oath along with the Chief Minister.
After being unanimously elected as the leader of the Andhra Pradesh assembly, addressing his MLAs on June 11, Naidu assured that there would be no vindictive politics in his government but added that wrongdoers would be brought to book . He also announced that Amaravti would be the sole capital of the state and that Vizag would be developed as a financial capital, a modern city.
Here is the list of Ministers that took oath on Wednesday:
Konidela Pawan Kalyan (Kapu)
Nara Lokesh (Kamma)
Kinjarapu Achchennaidu (BC, Koppula Velama)
Kollu Ravindra (BC Fisherman)
Nadendla Manohar (Kamma)
P Narayana (Kapu)
Vangalapudi Anitha (SC Madiga)
Satyakumar Yadav (BC, Yadav)
Nimmala Ramanaidu (Kapu)
NMD Farooq (Muslim Minority)
Anam Ramanaraya Reddy (Reddy)
Payyavula Keshav (Kamma)
Anagani Sathyaprasad (BC, Gowda)
Kolusu Parthasaradhi (BC, Yadava)
Dola Balaveeranjaneyaswamy (SC Mala)
Gottipati Ravi (Kamma)
Kandula Durgesh (Kapu)
Gummadi Sandhyarani (ST)
BC Janarthan Reddy (Reddy)
TG Bharat (Arya Vaishya)
S Savithamma (Kuraba)
Vasamshetty Subhash (BC, Shettibalija)
Kondapalli Srinivas (BC Eastern Cape)
Mandipalli Ram Prasad (Reddy)