N. Chandrababu Naidu

Nara Chandrababu Naidu (born 20 April 1950), also known as Chandrababu Naidu or CBN, is an Indian politician and the current leader of opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. He also served as Chief Minister from 1995 to 2004 and as opposition leader from 2004 to 2014 of Andhra Pradesh. He has been the president of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) since 1995.

Naidu's political career began in the 1970s with the Indian National Congress (INC). In 1978, he was elected to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, and from 1980 to 1982, he served as a minister in the state cabinet. Afterwards, he switched party allegiance and joined TDP, which had been founded by Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, his father-in-law, whom he initially opposed. He gained the confidence of Rao, especially after helping thwart an INC attempt to oust Rao from his post as chief minister in 1984, becoming the party's general secretary. Naidu served as a TDP Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from 1989 to 1995, during which period he became a high-profile opposition leader. In 1995, he became the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh after an intra-party coup against the leadership of Rao.

During his two terms as Chief Minister, Naidu's public image was that of an economic reformer and proponent of information technology-based economic growth. His policies brought modernization and investments particularly to Hyderabad, where he directed the founding of HITEC City. He also had a role in national politics, first as the convener of the United Front in 1996. He supported the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, in which TDP won 29 seats, enhancing Naidu's reputation as a nationally prominent politician. His ministership was faulted as lacking policies that advance the agricultural sector, and he went out of office in 2004, defeated by a coalition of INC and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which had emerged as an ofshoot of TDP. In 2014, after having been the leader of opposition during the whole intervening period, Naidu returned to the position of Chief Minister, winning in the now-residuary (due to bifurcation) Andhra Pradesh. He directed the construction of a new capital city for the state, Amaravati.

During his last term, in 2015, he was involved in a cash-for-vote scam, which implicated him in offering bribes to a nominated MLA for his vote in the 2015 elections of the Telangana Legislative Council. In 2018, the TDP formed an alliance with INC for the Telangana elections, but failed to defeat the TRS. This unsuccessful experiment, followed by a split for the 2019 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election led to an erosion of Naidu's public image, contributing to a major electoral set back, with TDP winning only 23 out of 175 seats—the worst defeat in the party's history. In 2023, Naidu was arrested by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) police of Andhra Pradesh in a multi-crore scam related to Skill Development Corporation under his tenure, and was subsequently released from jail.