Chandrababu rises like Phoenix: from two defeats, arrest, creates history

AMARAVATI: On September 9, 2023, the Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (CID) arrested TDP chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu in the AP Skill Development Scam case and was sent to jail in Rajamahendravaram Central Prison.

The arrest and the incarceration in the barracks of the jail was the second lowest ebb the former Chief Minister faced after the humiliating defeat in the hands of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of his friend turned arch-rival, YS Rajasekhara Reddy.

Power is not new to Naidu as he has been the longest-served CM of Andhra Pradesh. He was Andhra Pradesh's chief minister from 1995–2004 and again in 2014–19. He is the present Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly's leader of the opposition. Naidu also donned the role of convener of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the 1999 general elections.

N Chandrababu Naidu was born in an agricultural family on April 20, 1950, in Naravaripalle in Chittoor district. His father Kharjura Naidu was a farmer and his mother Ammanamma was a housewife.

After primary education in Narivaripalle, Naidu joined Chandragiri Government High School and completed SSC there. He studied BA in 1972 from Sri Venkateshwara Arts College, Tirupati. He did his master's degree in Economics from Sri Venkateswara University. He enrolled in PhD in economics at the same university but his penchant for politics forced him to take up a career in that line.

In 1970 he became student union leader at SV University. Later he joined the Youth Congress. He was a close supporter of Sanjay Gandhi and then switched to the Telugu Desam Party founded by NT Rama Rao. He later married NTR’s daughter Bhuvaneswari.

He was first elected to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1978 and became a Minister in NTR’s cabinet. In 1995 after the so-called August crisis, he toppled NTR and became the CM.

Naidu encouraged Information Technology (IT) and in 2003, he was appointed as chairman of the National Task Force on Micro-irrigation under the Ministry of Agriculture. He was re-elected as Chief Minister in 1999 and served until 2004.

In 2014, after the State was bifurcated into AP Telangana became Chief Minister of the residual State. However, he suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of YS Jagan in 2019.