Government and Politics

Government and politics

Andhra Pradesh has a Legislative Assembly of 294 seats. The state has 60 members in the Parliament of India : 18 in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) and 42 in the Lok Sabha (Lower House).

Andhra Pradesh had a row of Congress governments till 1982. Kasu Brahmananda Reddy held the record for the longest serving chief minister which was broken by Nara Chandrababu Naidu. P.V. Narasimha Rao also served as the chief minister for the state, who later went on to become the Prime Minister of India. Among the notable chief ministers of the state are Tanguturi Prakasam (CM for Andhra state only), Neelam Sanjiva Reddy , Kasu Brahmananda Reddy , Marri Chenna Reddy , Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy , N.T. Rama Rao, Nara Chandrababu Naidu and Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

The Beginning of Multi-Party Politics

1982 saw the rise of N.T. Rama Rao (or NTR) as the chief minister of the state for the first time introducing a formidable second political party to Andhra politics and thus breaking the virtually-single party monopoly on Andhra politics. Nadendla Bhaskar Rao attempted a hijack when NTR was away to the United States for a medical treatment. After coming back, NTR successfully convinced the governor to dissolve the Assembly and call for a fresh election. NTR won by a large majority. His government's policies included investment in education and rural development and in holding corrupt government offices accountable.

1989 assembly elections ended the 7-year rule of NTR with the congress being returned to power and Dr. Marri Chenna Reddy at the helm. He was replaced by N. Janardhan Reddy who was in turn replaced by Kotla Vijaya Bhasker Reddy.

In 1994 Assembly saw NTR becoming the chief minister again, but he was soon thrown out of power by his finance minister and son-in-law N Chandrababu Naidu. NTR died from a heart attack before the next elections and thus Naidu was able to win a second term before he was defeated by the Congress-led coalition in the May 2004 polls.

Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy of the Indian National Congress (INC) is the current chief minister of the states. Rajasekhara Reddy fought the 2004 Assembly elections in an alliance with a new party called Telangana Rashtra Samithi (or TRS), which hopes to form a separate state called Telangana.

See List of political parties in the state

See also: Andhra Pradesh Politics and List of Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh