Vijayawada,MAY 23:
N Chandrababu Naidu, who has a few records, including being the longest serving Chief Minister in Andhra Pradesh, finds himself at the crossroads as his TDP faced a rout in the assembly as well as Lok Sabha polls, dashing his hopes of emerging kingmaker at the national level.Naidu, who has claimed himself to be the senior most politician, given his 40 year career, created a record of sorts by embracing Congress, against which the party was founded by his father-in-law, the late N T Rama Rao.He served as Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh for a little over eight years from September 1, 1995 to May 13, 2004 the longest tenure for any and served as the first CM of (bifurcated) AP from June 2014.He also has the other distinctions of being the youngest MLA and the youngest minister at the age of 28 when he was first inducted as minister for cinematography in the then Cabinet of T Anjaiah in 1978 in the (united) state.An eight-time MLA, the 69-year-old Naidu also holds the record as the longest serving Leader of the Opposition in (united) Andhra Pradesh between 2004 and 2014.
He started off as a students union leader in Sri Venkateswara University while pursuing his Masters in Economics. He joined Youth Congress in 1975 and was elected as MLA for the first time in 1978 from his native Chandragiri constituency. Chandrababu had to drop his PhD programme in economics after he became a minister.While serving as minister, Chandrababu caught Telugu silver screen legend Rama Raos eye and later married his daughter in 1980.Be lost the 1983 election as a Congress nominee in the newborn Telugu Desam’s wave, but within months quietly switched over to the fledgling party floated by NTR.He was made in-charge of Karshaka Parishad, the farmers council established by the NTR government, and later the TDP general secretary to emerge as the key strategist and organiser of party affairs.In 1989, Chandrababu shifted to Kuppam Assembly constituency bordering Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and was elected to the Legislature consecutively from there.In 1994, he became minister for finance and revenue in NTRs Cabinet,but in August 1995 led an internal party coup to dislodge his father-in-law from the Chief Ministers post and take over the reins with the support of a majority of MLAs.Chandrababu simultaneously became TDP president and took full control of the party after NTRs demise in January 1996.
