NOW COMES THE HARD PART

Back in the NDA fold, TDP supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu sweeps both the parliamentary and assembly elections. But with the state treasury running on empty, he will need the Centre to bail him out

- Amarnath K. Menon

IN November 2021, an emotional N. Chandrababu Naidu had made a dramatic walkout from the Andhra Pradesh assembly. Stung by abusive remarks against his wife Bhuvaneswari during a debate on women’s empowerment, a tearful Naidu vowed with folded hands not to return to the Sasana Sabha “unless as chief minister”. Nearly two and a half years later, the 74-year-old Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo has made good on that vow.

Riding a potent anti-incumbency wave against the outgoing chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), Naidu has led the TDP to a resounding victory and will now hold the state’s reins for the fourth time. His party captured 135 assembly seats and swept all 16 Lok Sabha constituencies it contested, with its allies—actor Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—compounding the YSRCP’s humiliation. It has been restricted to just 11 of the 175 assembly seats and four of the 25 parliamentary seats.