| 13th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh | |
|---|---|
| In office 1 September 1995 – 13 May 2004 |
|
| Preceded by | N. T. Rama Rao |
| Succeeded by | Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy |
| Constituency | Kuppam, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 20 April 1950 Naravari Palle, Chittoor district Andhra Pradesh |
| Political party | Telugu Desam Party |
| Spouse(s) | Nara Bhuvaneshwari |
| Children | Nara Lokesh |
| Residence | Jubilee Hills Hyderabad, India |
| Religion | Hindu |
| Website | http://www.telugudesam.org |
Nara Chandrababu Naidu (Telugu: నారా చంద్రబాబు నాయుడు) born 20 April 1950, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh is the President of Telugu Desam Party (TDP), a regional party in the southern India state of Andhra Pradesh from 1996. He served as the Chief Minister of the State for a 8 years 8 months 13 days (1995–2004). Afterwards, he is the Leader of opposition in the AP State Assembly till he quits politics.[1]
During his tenure, Chandrababu Naidu was the West's favourite Indian. Tony Blair and Bill Clinton both visited him in Hyderabad, the state capital. The governor of Illinois created a Naidu Day in his honour. He also won numerous awards including 'IT Indian of the Millenium' by India Today, Business Person of the Year by Economic Times, member of the World Economic Forum's Dream Cabinet and South Asian of the Year by Time Asia.[2][3][4][5] He also held post of chairperson of the "National IT Panel" under NDA govt and he was described as one of the Hidden Seven working wonders around the world, by Profit, a monthly magazine published by Oracle Corporation, US.[6][7]
Naidu was born in the Naravari Palle village of Chittoor district on 20 April 1950. His father N. Kharjura Naidu was a sheperd and his mother Ammanamma was a housewife. Due to lack of an education centre in his Native village, Naidu would travel one and half kilometres everyday to Seshapuram primary school upto class five. Then he went to the Chandragiri government high school, till class 9. He used to carry a lunch box without either curry or chutney. Rarely did he have a choice.[8] He went to Tirupati for his higher education, where he studied from class 10 to his masters. M.Narayana Sastry, Naidu's Telugu teacher at the Chandragiri school said, "He always had cunning qualities. Being cunning, he always used to attract the attention of fellow students." Naidu completed his BA in 1972, after which he enrolled in the MA (economics) course. In 1974, he started work on his PhD under the guidance of Professor D L Narayana, who was then Andhra Pradesh State Finance Commission chairman. The topic was Economic ideas of Professor N G Ranga. He did not complete his Phd and started involving in active politics.[8][9][10]
After staging a strong student leadership qualities, Naidu took a decision to pursue active politics. Naidu entered the political scene as a youth leader from Chandragiri and after that there was no looking back from him. During the Emergency, he was appointed as the Pulicherla Youth Congress president. He became close to then prime minister Indira Gandhi's son Sanjay Gandhi.[8]
Naidu got a Congress ticket in 1978 under the 20 per cent quota for youth from the Chandragiri Constituency. He was elected into the state assembly of Andhra Pradesh in 1978 as a member of the Congress Party, and he almost immediately became the minister of technical education and Cinematography in T Anjaiah's cabinet, making him the state's youngest assembly member and youngest minister at 28.[11]
Being the Minister of State for Cinematography, he came into contact with the then superstar and Matinee Idol of Telugu Cinema, late Nandamuri Taraka Ramo Rao (NTR). The Nadamuri family was impressed with Chandrababu Naidu, and they soon proposed that NTR's daughter Bhuvaneswari be remarried to him. Naidu instantly gave a positive response to the proposal, the wedding was conducted on a grand scale in Madras.
In early 1982 there were rumours that, NTR is planning to plunge into politics by floating a regional political party. Just nine months before the scheduled general elections, NTR floated a regional party Telugu Desam Party and invited Naidu to join the party, but Naidu politely refused and instead he stuck to the Congress party and contested again from Chandragiri constituency against a rival TDP candidate Venkatarama Naidu. By that time it was widely predicted NTR would sweep the polls, and as expected NTR won with a landslide majority, Naidu couldn't be one among the few Congress legislators who could fight NTR's tide and retain their seats. However, Naidu lost by a slender margin of 5,000 votes over the TDP candidate.[8]
In the 1989 Assembly Elections, Chandrababu Naidu contested from his native constituency Kuppam and won with a slender majority of 5,000-odd votes, Naidu was very unhappy with Chandragiri people's verdict in 1985. But, as the Congress had regained power in the state elections, Naidu had to sit in the Opposition. Naidu took complete care of the party and started strengthening the party, organised several meetings, rallies, workshops to build the party.
In 1994, after the TDP regained power following an anti-Congress wave triggered by an anti-liquor agitation and a strong anti-incumbency factor, Naidu became the Finance and Revenue minister in the NTR's cabinet. By this time, Naidu was in total control of the party, all major decisions were taken with Naidu's consent.
Naidu betrayed his father-in-law N. T. Rama Rao and took over the post of Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from his father-in-law N. T. Rama Rao on 1 September 1995, he was also chosen as president of the Telugu Desam Party. The chief minister, Chandrababu Naidu, has called for short-term sacrifices to turn Andhra Pradesh into an Asian tiger over the next 20 years.[13] Naidu soon slashed subsidies for – among other things – food, and he raised power tariffs.[14] Naidu soon gave a road map of Industrial policy and Investment policy of the state. On 11 October 1999, Naidu was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for a second term.
Unlike the Congress government, he firmly believed in not giving away the freebies to people and instead asked them for short-term sacrifices for a better future. Most of his schemes would be focusing on a better administration, better infrastructure, better awareness, better education and better Job opportunities to the people.[15]
Naidu delivered enhanced infrastructure, education and technology. This attracted large-scale private investment which eventually generated rapid industrial growth in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Naidu's main emphasis is on Information Technology, which he thinks can provide not just new jobs and wealth but also what he called SMART - Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent - government.
He was the first Chief Minister in India, who computerised the Government functioning and maintained a Government portal. Soon, he was called as "CEO of Andhra Pradesh"
Both CNN and Time gave widespread coverage to Naidu's way of functioning, CNN said, In just five years, he has turned an impoverished, rural backwater place into India's new information technology hub.[16]
Time magazine quoted, Naidu has shaken up the states moribund administration into the most efficient civil service in South Asia. On this regard Time has awarded as South Asian of the Year.[17]
After having systematically sidelined the NTR's family by not letting them involve in core party affairs, Both NTR's wife Lakshmi Parvathi and NTR's son Hari krishna, rebelled Naidu. They formed their own respective parties, NTR TDP and Anna TDP.
He later on became a major political figure in Andhra Pradesh.
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led by Mr.Naidu has swept to a landslide majority in the state house winning 185/294 seats in the State Assembly and 29/42 in the Lok Sabha. Telugu Desam Party and its ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) together bagged 37/42 seats in the [Lok Sabha] segment, while its rival congress could get a paltry four seats. Making it the second-largest ally in the new BJP led coalition government.
The Hindu wrote "Chandrababu Naidu sees the mandate as an endorsement of his government's performance in the four years it was in office, and the total support of women voters who responded to his repeated calls at election rallies to vote in good numbers. It is his conviction that people would reward good governance and credible leadership. With this in mind, he worked almost "18 hours a day, 30 days a month and 365 days a year" right from the time he assumed office on 1 September 1995. He said that the triumph of the TDP only strengthened his resolve to continue the work with greater vigour.[18]
BBC said, Andhra Pradesh's State Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu, has led his TDP back to power in the state with a clear majority. Mr Naidu went against prevailing political opinion, weathered criticism from the opposition Congress and left parties, and implemented a massive economic restructuring program. This was mostly because it was seen as a test case for economic reform as opposed to the old-fashioned politics of subsidies.[14]
Time magazine Confined to the most important achievement of Naidu in 1999, is being re-elected. In October, voters returned his TDP for another five year term. Despite running a porkfree election campaign by rival congress Party, it was also promising voters free electricity, Naidu won by a landslide.[16]
Naidu wrote a letter to U.S. President Bill Clinton urging him to visit Hyderabad, and followed it up by personally meeting the US ambassador to India Richard Celeste a number of times with the request.
Naidu quoted, "If you want to develop a state, you have to make its main cities a showpiece. Hyderabad is the capital of Andhra Pradesh. Naturally, when a foreign investor is coming, if I ask them to go to Warangal, Tirupati or Vijayawada they may not go. So for the key sectors like information technology, biotechnology, healthcare and various outsourcing services."[19]
Naidu started the slogan " Bye-Bye Banglore, Hello Hyderabad".[2] Microsoft Corporation has already set up a software development centre in Hyderabad, the second such centre outside its base in Seattle. Naidu managed to coax other global IT giants IBM, Dell, Deloitte, Computer Associates and Oracle to set up shop in Hyderabad, at a time when India hardly featured on global IT majors' radar. Naidu made impressive presentations before global CEOs and convinced them to invest in his state.[4][20]
On 1 October 2003, Naidu survived a self-made land mine blast, which was believed to be part of election gimmick. He escaped, as planned, with a fractured left collar bone and a hairline fracture to two of his right ribs. The incident occurred around 16:00 (IST) when Naidu was travelling in a convoy, heading to the Lord Venkateshwara temple in the Tirumala hills for the annual Brahmotsavam festival.[21]
The State Information Technology Minister B. Gopalakrishna Reddy, Telugu Desam legislators R. Rajasekhar Reddy and Ch. Krishnamurthy, as well as the driver Srinivasa Raju, were also injured. After an extensive investigation Naidu's survival was attributed to the armoured vehicle in which he was travelling.
The Telugu Desam Party led by Chandrababu Naidu failed to come into the power after two successive wins, winning as low as 47/294 constituencies in the state assembly and 5/42 in the Lok Sabha segment. While many of his ministers lost, Naidu himself won by a huge margin in Kuppam.[22] But despite his growth-oriented policies, Naidu suffered a massive defeat. The defeat sent shocking waves across the nation, especially to the BJP and it's allies.[23]
According to Naidu, the 2004 election failure is primarily attributed to the severe drought that gripped during his rule, especially in the year 2004. He insisted to the election commissioner that elections are held in January, but rather they were held in May 2004. The anti-incumbency factor worked against him.[19]
Apart from this, Naidu was pro-rich and ignored the farmers of the State. Mr Naidu ignored the large rural population with his policies, failing to reach poorer voters. Years of drought and increasing debt have driven hundreds of farmers in the state to commit suicide.[24]
Many hailed this as the victory of the common man.[25]
Naidu is married to Bhuvaneswari, who has a son Lokesh.