How did Chandrababu Naidu script incredible comeback in Andhra Pradesh?

Chandrababu Naidu has made an incredible comeback in Andhra Pradesh.

The veteran leader is set to be sworn in as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for the fourth time and has received a congratulatory phone call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah.

Election trends show that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which has tied up with the Janasena and BJP for the election, has put on a dominating performance in both the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the state.

According to the latest figures from the Election Commission, the TDP has won one Assembly seat and is leading in 130 segments, while Janasena is leading in 19 and BJP in 7.

The NDA alliance is leading in 22 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats.

The ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) has faltered badly.

It is leading in just 18 Assembly seats and three Lok Sabha seats with Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy set to resign by 4 pm.

Remember, Naidu, 74, was swept out of office in 2019.

But what do we know about Naidu? And how did he make a big comeback?

Let’s take a closer look:

Early years

Nara Chandrababu Naidu was born on 20 April, 1950 at Naravaripalli in Andhra Pradesh’s undivided Chittoor district.

Naidu was born to a farming family.

His father N Kharjura Naidu was a cultivator, while his mother Ammanamma was a housewife.

“We used to grow sugarcane, then make jaggery. Our annual income in those days was at least Rs 30,000,” Amanamma told Rediff.com.

Naidu attended Seshapuram Primary School – to which he’d travel a kilometre and a half every day — up to class 5.

He then attended Chandragiri government high school till Class 9.

M Narayana Sastry, Naidu’s Telugu teacher at the Chandragiri school told Rediff.com, “He always had leadership qualities. Being active, intelligent and hard-working, he always used to attract the attention of fellow students.''

Naidu went to Tirupati for his higher education.

According to Britannica, Naidu received a bachelor’s degree from Tirupati’s Venkateswara University in 1972.

Naidu then enrolled in a master’s degree at the university.

In 1974, Naidu began working on his PhD on the subject of the economic ideas of professor NG Ranga, according to Rediff.com.

Naidu was guided by professor DL Narayana, who served as the state finance commission chair of Andhra Pradesh.

Naidu did not finish his PhD, professor J Sai Baba told Rediff.com.

“He was not very academic,” professor D Narayana Rao of the physics department added. “At the same time we cannot say he was not interested in academics. Nor can we say he always had an eye on politics.”

Political plunge

However, it was at the Venkateswara University where he began his over four-decade-long political career –  at first as a student leader.

Naidu then joined the Congress.

According to Britannica, Naidu was the local youth president of the Congress during the Emergency imposed by then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

He also became an intimate of Indira’s eldest son Sanjay Gandhi.

‘”In the late 1970s, when there was a cyclone in the area, Chandrababu Naidu and I organised 40 buses to take students to a Sanjay Gandhi meeting,” ex- Srikalahasti MLA V Subramaniam told the website. “Both of us personally pasted all the Sanjay posters from Renigunta airport to Srikalashasti.”

Naidu in 1978 won a seat in the Andhra Pradesh state Assembly.

“‘He had got a Congress ticket in 1978 under the 20 per cent quota for youth,” professor Sai Baba told Rediff.com. “Professor N G Ranga and G Ramgopal Naidu (whose daughter G Aruna Kumari contested the Chandragiri assembly election as a Congress candidate) played a key role in this regard.’”

Naidu also served as a state cabinet minister.

It was at this time that  Naidu wed the daughter of film superstar NT Rama Rao – who founded the TDP and was chief minister of Andhra Pradesh three times.

Naidu in 1983 lost his re-election race to the Assembly as the TDP dominated the state polls.

Naidu now abandoned the Congress for the TDP.

Rise to top of TDP

According to Britannica, Naidu gained NTR’s favour after he helped stymie the Congress’ effort to remove NTR as chief minister in 1984.

Naidu became TDP general secretary the next year.

Though he did not hold a position in the NTR government, he was thought to have great influence in the party.

When the TPD was in the Opposition in Andhra Pradesh, Naidu played the role of party coordinator

His efforts were thought to be an important part of the TDP’s success during 1994 polls.

In 1995, Naidu rebelled against his father-in-law over the growing influence of NTR’s second wife Lakshmi Parvathi.

Naidu was then unanimously chosen as the TDP chief and took over as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh.

“‘So deep was the resentment against Lakshmi Parvathi (NTR’s second wife) that if he had not done it, some other MLA would have become the CM,” Naidu told Rediff.com. “The whole Nandamuri family supported him in this regard. But NTR was a dejected man, and he died soon after.”

“What else could he do if NTR continued to pamper his second wife?” asked Amannama. “The whole family was against her.”

Naidu also played a key role in forming the first NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

That administration got support from the TDP.

According to The Hindu, Naidu was Vajpayee’s Man Friday from 1999 to 2003.

CM of Andhra Pradesh

His first two terms as chief minister came during the era of united Andhra Pradesh – from 1995 to 2004.

The third term came after Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh 10 years ago.

As the chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, Naidu emerged as the chief architect of modern Hyderabad, playing a key role in developing the hi-tech city and turning it into a major hub.

Naidu was called the “CEO of Andhra Pradesh."

He won several awards including the Business Person of the Year by Economic Times.

In 2014, Naidu emerged as the first chief minister of the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh and served it until 2019.

In his third-term as CM, he championed Amaravati to be the capital city of the southern state.

However, the 2019 polls saw the YSRCP annihilate the TDP.

The Reddy-led party won a massive 151 of 175 Assembly seats including key constituencies such as Kadapa, Kurnool, Nellore, and Vizianagaram.

The TDP itself was reduced to just 23 seats and just three Lok Sabha seats.

“Mr Naidu’s decision to break away from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and join the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) proved costly. The TDP faced defeat in both the Lok Sabha and assembly elections, leaving Mr Naidu politically marginalised,” a piece in NDTV noted.

In 2021, protesting some comments made against his family, Naidu walked out of the Assembly.

He vowed to return only after he became chief minister again.

The comeback

Naidu’s arrest in 2023 under the Skill Development Corporation Scam case by the YSRCP government was the lowest point in his career.

After a pre-dawn arrest on 9 September, Naidu spent nearly two months in the Rajamahendravaram central jail.

However, an interim bail on 31 October, which was made absolute on 20 November, allowed Naidu to prepare for the 2024 polls.

Naidu then joined the NDA alliance of TDP, BJP and Janasena.

According to The Hindu, Naidu did so because he was aware that he could not combat the YSRCP and Reddy by himself.

“He allied with film actor Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party, which has huge support among the Kapus, a dominant caste in the State—and convinced the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to let him in the NDA,” the piece noted.

It added this was no easy task as Naidu had left both Modi and Shah incensed prior to the 2019 polls.

“Cut up with his strong criticism, Modi and Amit Shah kept Naidu at arm’s length for over four years. But, it was Naidu who saw the importance of joining the NDA. He saw two advantages – surrogate support from the national law-enforcing agencies and reprieve from the election-time highhandedness at the hands of the state government,” the piece stated.

The piece added that Naidu and Pawan Kalyan were forced to wait in Delhi for more than four days before he was allowed to join the alliance.

A piece in NDTV noted that Naidu’s arrest seems to have helped his comeback.

“The allegations of misgovernance and corruption against YSRCP MLAs created sympathy for Mr Naidu and fuelled discontent among voters,” the piece added.

Now, with phone calls from Modi and Shah and a dominating performance, it seems that Naidu is back on top in Andhra Pradesh yet again.

The NDA’s performance also leaves Naidu and Nitish Kumar as national players.

“With the NDA alliance winning a slender majority at the Centre, political analysts have already started discussing what role Naidu would play in the formation of the Government. Some even hinted what would happen to the NDA alliance if Chandrababu Naidu and Niteesh Kumar, both belong to the same school of politics, switch loyalties to the INDIA bloc,” the Hindu piece noted.

“The election results have once again presented an opportunity to Chandrababu Naidu to play kingmaker, like he did as United Front Convenor. Some say, this could be his best chance to negotiate and even become PM. But those close to him say, he is not going to do that,” the NDTV piece noted.

It said that Naidu has often been described as a political opportunist – which does not readily breed confidence in allies.

“This is Naidu’s chance to prove he can be a reliable ally,” the piece concluded.

It remains to be seen what Naidu does from here.

With inputs from agencies