N. Chandrababu Naidu

N. Chandrababu Naidu (born April 20, 1950, Naravaripalli, near Tirupati, India) is an Indian politician and the current chief minister (head of government) of Andhra Pradesh state in southeastern India. He is the head of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and in 2024 began serving his fourth term as chief minister (previous terms were served in 1995–99, 1999–2004, and 2014–19). Naidu is an important figure in Indian politics at the national level. In the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)—the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance, which formed a new coalition federal government after winning a majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections—Naidu and the TDP are considered one of two crucial sources of support, the other being Nitish Kumar and his Janata Dal (United) party in Bihar.

Naidu was born to a farming family in a small village near Tirupati in what is now southeastern Andhra Pradesh. He was initiated into politics during his student days at Sri Venkateswara University College of Arts in Tirupati, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1972, and he continued with postgraduate studies at the larger university. He had joined the Indian National Congress (Congress Party), and in 1975–77, during the period of emergency rule imposed by then prime minister Indira Gandhi, he served as the local youth president of the party. He subsequently discontinued his studies to pursue a career in politics.

Naidu became a confidant of Sanjay Gandhi, Indira’s eldest son, and in 1978 he ran for and was elected to a seat in the Andhra Pradesh state legislative assembly. While in office he also was a minister (1980–83) in the state cabinet. During that period he married the daughter of Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (NTR), a superstar of Telugu-language films and founder of the TDP who served three terms as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. Naidu lost his bid for reelection to the assembly in 1983 in the TDP sweep of the state elections that year, and he joined the new party.

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Naidu soon gained the confidence of NTR, especially following his role in helping thwart a Congress Party attempt to oust NTR from his post as chief minister in 1984. Naidu became general secretary of the TDP in 1985 and was instrumental in building up an effective party organization. Although Naidu did not hold a portfolio in NTR’s government when it was in power (1983–89), he came to wield considerable clout within the party. When the TDP was out of power (1989–94), Naidu served as party coordinator, skillfully handling its opposition role in the state assembly. His work during that phase was a key factor in the subsequent success of the TDP in the state elections of 1994.

In August 1995 Naidu staged a successful intraparty coup against his father-in-law to counter the rising influence of Lakshmi Parvathi (or Parvati), NTR’s second wife. Later that year he was unanimously elected leader of the TDP and simultaneously took over for NTR as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. He continued to strengthen the party, and in the 1996 elections to the Lok Sabha (lower chamber of the Indian parliament), the TDP won a total of 16 seats. In the September–October 1999 Lok Sabha elections, the TDP did even better, gaining 29 seats and solidifying Naidu’s reputation as a leader of significance. He lent his party’s support to (without joining) the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance coalition that governed the country between 1999 and 2004. Also in October 1999 he was reaffirmed in his tenure as chief minister, riding the crest of the TDP’s parliamentary and state electoral success.

By that time, Naidu was viewed as an up-and-coming figure in national politics and a future candidate for prime minister. Known for his political acumen and zeal for reform, he was an efficient administrator and policymaker who saw his role as being more like the head of a corporation than a chief minister. Appreciated for his dynamism and willingness to experiment, he accorded priority to good governance and infrastructure development and exhibited the will to invigorate the economic climate of the state. In particular, Naidu’s emphasis on the development of information technology helped transform Andhra Pradesh’s capital, Hyderabad, into one of India’s most attractive destinations for new investment.

Naidu remained a national and international figure, but his attempts at reform disillusioned large groups of voters in Andhra Pradesh, especially farmers and the poor who did not benefit from his programs. The TDP was soundly defeated in 2004 national parliamentary and state elections, even though it was still allied with the BJP, and Naidu stepped down as chief minister. Again spearheading the opposition in state politics—though now as party leader—he dropped his ties with the BJP and forged an alliance between the TDP and smaller state parties to contest the 2009 national and state elections. That attempt failed, however, as the party made no real gains in either the Lok Sabha or the state assembly. Naidu did retain his assembly seat.

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State assembly elections were held in the spring of 2014, just prior to the creation of Telangana state in June out of the northwestern portion of Andhra Pradesh. The TDP again allied itself with the BJP and won a plurality of seats. That plurality became a clear majority when the newly configured Andhra Pradesh assembly convened in June (following the departure of the Telangana members). The TDP formed a government, with Naidu as chief executive. After the party’s poor showing in the 2019 general elections, he stepped down as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh.

In 2024 Naidu made a strong political comeback. His decisive victory in the state assembly elections reinstated him as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, highlighting his key role in the NDA and his influence in both state and national politics.