N. Chandrababu Naidu

Nara Chandrababu Naidu (; born 20 April 1950) is an Indian politician and current leader of opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. He is a former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, serving from 2014 to 2019. He was the first Chief Minister of the state after it was divided. Previously, he served as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from 1995 to 2004, before the state's division, and as the leader of the opposition in the united Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly from 2004 to 2014. He is the National President of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), and the longest-serving Chief Minister (14 years in office) of Andhra Pradesh.
Naidu has won a number of awards, including IT Indian of the Millennium from "India Today", Business Person of the Year by "The Economic Times", South Asian of the Year from "Time Asia" and membership in the World Economic Forum's Dream Cabinet. Naidu chaired the National IT Panel under the National Democratic Alliance (India) (NDA) government and was described as one of the "hidden seven" working wonders of the world by "Profit" (Oracle Corporation's monthly magazine). Naidu was offered an honorary professorship by US business school - the Kellogg School of Management in 2000. He was the Chairman of National Task Force on Micro-irrigation from Government of India, Ministry of Agriculture in 2003. He was the head of 13-member Committee of Chief Ministers to promote digital payment systems and financial inclusion in India which was constituted by federal government in 2016.
Early life and education.
Naidu was born on 20 April 1950 at Naravaripalle, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh in an agricultural family. His father, Nara Kharjura Naidu, worked in agriculture and his mother, Amanamma, was a housewife. Since his village had no school, Naidu attended primary school in Seshapuram up to class five and the Chandragiri Government High School up to class nine. He went to Tirupati for his higher education, studying there from class 10 until he received his master's degree. Naidu completed his BA degree in 1972.
Early political career.
Naidu was drawn to politics at an early age, and joined the Indian Youth Congress as a student leader in Chandragiri, near Tirupati in Chittoor district. After the emergency was imposed on the country in 1975, he became a close supporter of the Indian Youth Congress president, Sanjay Gandhi.
Legislative career, 1978–1983.
Naidu became a Congress (I) member of the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly (MLA) for Chandragiri constituency in 1978. The party's 20% quota for youth to run for the office was beneficial for him. Not long afterwards, Naidu was appointed as the technical education and cinematography minister in T. Anjaiah's government at the age of 28. He was the youngest minister in the Congress (I) cabinet.
As the cinematography minister, Naidu came in contact with N. T. Rama Rao, a popular film star in Telugu cinema. In 1980, he married Bhuvaneswari, Rao's second daughter.
Telugu Desam Party.
In 1982, N. T. Rama Rao formed the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and swept the assembly polls held in 1983. Naidu, who was then still in the INC, was defeated by a TDP candidate in Chandragiri. He joined the TDP soon after.
Rise in the party.
Naidu demonstrated his political skills in August 1984, when Nadendla Bhaskara Rao staged a coup against N. T. Rama Rao. He rallied the TDP MLAs together and paraded them before the President of India. N. T. Rama Rao was reinstated as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh 31 days later. Impressed with his son-in-law's manoeuvre, Rao appointed Naidu as the General Secretary of the party and he began playing an important role in the TDP after Nadendla Rao's coup attempt. Later, when N. T. Rama Rao married Lakshmi Parvathi, Naidu took over the TDP legislative party predicting the problems in the party and became the Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh.
Legislative career, 1989–1994.
In the 1989 assembly election, Naidu contested from Kuppam and won by 5,000 votes. INC, however, had regained power in the election so Naidu had to sit in the opposition. He served as a coordinator of the TDP, in which capacity he effectively handled the party's role of the main opposition in the assembly which won him wide appreciation from both the party and the public. Naidu's role during this phase, both inside the Legislative Assembly and outside, was a critical factor for the subsequent success of the party at the hustings.
Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
On 1 September 1995, Naidu came to power as the Chief Minister by revolting against N.T. Rama Rao. In the last interview, with Reuters, N. T. Rama Rao compared himself to Shah Jahan, a 17th-century Mughal emperor who was imprisoned by his son, and predicted that he would gain his revenge against what he called "the backstabbers" in his family, especially his son-in-law and successor, Naidu.
Chief Ministership (1995–2004).
The Telugu Desam Party, led by Naidu, won a majority in the state legislature: 185 of 294 seats in the Assembly and 29 of 42 at the parliament in the 1999 general election, making it the second-largest party in the BJP-led NDA coalition government.
Janmabhoomi Programme
Naidu launched the Janmabhoomi (birthplace) Programme in February 1996. The main aim was to involve people in the reconstruction and revitalisation of the society. The programme works at a micro level, planning to identify people-represented problems through Gram Sabha discussions by regional officers, especially in villages, and to send project proposals for the government to work on. The core concentrated areas are community work, primary school education, drinking water, health and hospitals, family welfare, and environmental protection through watershed and joint forest management activities.
From 1997 onward, the 'Clean and Green Campaign' was initiated where school students and teachers participated in institutional and household plantation with government employees. A total of 46 million trees in the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh state were planted. About 3,906,835 people participated in sanitation work, with 1,438,850 persons engaged to remove garbage and 40,921,447 people participated in health awareness rallies. The Naidu idea was to make every habitation and municipal ward 'clean and green' and it was one of the largest and most successful events organised by his government.
His government started the "self help groups" (SHG) such as water user associations, Vanasamrakshana Samities, Rythu Mithra Groups, CMEY Groups, School Education Committees, and promoted the 'Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas' (DWCRA) where each group had 15-20 female members and chose a leader who conducted group meetings. The main purpose was to offer microfinance through government and bank-linkage that would help rural women to start income generating activities, know about their rights, and the importance of education. The Naidu government distributed two lakh (two-hundred-thousand) bicycles to the girls who joined the government high schools as part of women empowerment initiative and launched the Deepam scheme in 1999 to reduce dependence on forest firewood, and to provide gas connections to poor rural members of the DWCRA groups and families below the poverty line.
Dial your Chief minister
"Prajalato Mukhyamantri" (Chief Minister with People) Phone is a programme that encourages open dialogue between the chief minister and the common people of Andhra Pradesh state. There is a live broadcast every Monday, on both Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) where Naidu interacts with the callers directly to know their issues and address them. The live show is conducted in two sessions: in the first session, there is a discussion with vice-chancellors, academicians, and writers and in the second session, there is interaction with the people. Naidu was described as "a leader, who mingled with the masses after shedding his official status and time as Chief Minister." The innovative program found acceptance in the country's information and broadcasting systems.
Rythu Bazaar (farmers market)
"Rythu Bazaar" was launched by Naidu on 26 January 1999 with the objective to control the skyrocketing prices of fruits and vegetables. Under this program, farmers were encouraged to sell their produce directly to the consumers and in the process, eliminate the middleman. In the first phase itself, the program succeeded and reached various towns. Prices were down by 70 to 75 percent, and it benefited both the farmers and the direct consumers.
E-governance
With the intention of bringing e-governance to the citizens, Naidu launched e-Seva centers in 2001 for paperless and speedy delivery of results to applicants. These e-Seva centers were one-stop solutions providing all government information and services online such as utility bills, banking services, issuing birth and death certificates, written test for drivers licence, government orders, and APSRTC tours and travel operators booking. The government introduced an outsourcing employee system where government-related services are done under a contract agreement and after a certain time, they are declared as permanent government employees.
Vision 2020
In 1999, Naidu produced a vision statement called "Andhra Pradesh Vision 2020" that outlined various goals and objectives to be achieved by 2020. It was prepared in collaboration with US consultants, McKinsey & Company, who proposed the following:
After returning as Chief Minister in 2014, Naidu updated the document to version 2.0, titled "Sunrise AP Vision 2029".
Other activities
In 2000, both Bill Clinton (President of the United States) and Tony Blair (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) visited Hyderabad and met with Naidu. Bobby Ghosh of the American news magazine, Time commented, "In just five years, he has turned an impoverished, rural backwater place into India's new information-technology hub", and the magazine named Naidu, 'South Asian of the Year'.
Investment policy
In way of investments and attractive incentives, the Naidu government won the honour of best tourism performing state with about 24% in all national tourist arrivals, record international aircraft movements, and occupancy raised by 100% in the same year. This led to employment generation direct and indirectly for 37.7 lakhs people raised by 12% in the hotel and hospitality industry, food and beverage services, recreation and entertainment, cabs and transportation, travel trade and booking services and bagged 6 tourism awards for excellence out of 14 categories at the national level.
Role in development of Hyderabad.
HITEC City.
In November 1998, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then prime minister of India and Chandrababu Naidu inaugurated the HITEC City (nickanamed Cyberabad) by opening the Cyber Towers, a landmark building in Hyderabad. In anticipation of the growth of technology in the future, his government also concentrated on providing infrastructure such as roads, safety and resilience, transportation, telecommunications, IT parks and five-star hotels for the delegates' meetings and accommodation and the HITEX International Convention and Exhibition Center.
Naidu once coined the slogan "Bye-bye Bangalore, hello Hyderabad" to further this aim and his government allotted lands and laid the foundations for major IT parks such as L&T Infocity Ascendas Park, Cyber Gateway, Raheja Mindspace Madhapur IT Park, and CyberPearl IT Park to partake in the IT industry boom. Naidu, at a press conference, discussed his plan to develop the state of Andhra Pradesh by making the major cities showpieces for foreign investment, especially in "key sectors such as information technology, biotechnology, healthcare, and various outsourcing services" and gave a brief PowerPoint presentation to Bill Gates that convinced him to establish Microsoft Corporation Research and Development (R&D) in Hyderabad, the company's second-largest research and development campus outside the United States, a significant milestone in Hyderabad's bid to become an information technology hub.
In 2001, the Naidu government declared the creation of the Cyberabad Development Authority (CDA) as a special enclave for the location of IT firms, research institutions and allied services around the existing HITEC City area in Hyderabad. Spread over an area of 52 km2, in the western periphery of the city covering the townships of Madhapur, Gachibowli, Kondapur, Manikonda, and Nanakramguda, CDA CDA was conceived as a self-contained enclave providing premium infrastructure, such as gated residential housing, intelligent buildings, shopping malls, and transport facilities among others.
According to several national and international surveys, Hyderabad became an IT Hotspot of India in 2002 and Hyderabad became ranked number one in the city competitiveness compared of major cities in India to attract businesses. The economic reforms and new policy initiatives taken by the Naidu government in creating HITEC City provided a boost to Hyderabad's urbanisation and, with big tech industry jobs in hand, has increased consumer purchasing power, leading to massive real estate developments, gated residential apartments, food and restaurants, intelligent business offices, cinema, and shopping malls in the area and Naidu's efforts to make HITEC City India's first and largest cybercity while today Cyberabad is a big technological project in Hyderabad, which emerged as the backbone of Telangana state's economy. 
Genome Valley.
in 1999, Naidu established the Pharma City, an original, state-of-the-art biotechnology park in the country to the north of Hyderabad and promoted Genome Valley to leading multinational pharmaceutical companies like Novartis Pharma India, Shantha Biotechnics, Biocon, Biological E. Limited, Jupiter Biosciences, and also requested other global IT companies like IBM, Dell, HSBC, Oracle Corporation to move to Hyderabad, making presentations to global CEOs and convincing them to invest and establish offices in Hyderabad.
Rajiv Gandhi international airport.
Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (Shamshabad Airport) is an initiative of Chief Minister Naidu. When Hyderabad was attracting global investments the then operating Begumpet Airport was unable to handle air traffic. To promote the planned development of the area around the international airport, the Naidu government declared a special development area and called it as Hyderabad Airport Development Authority (HADA). Naidu led government acquired 5,495 acres of land for the airport in 2003. The airport was built on public private partnership basis, where only land is provided by the government, but entire construction cost and planning has to be taken care by Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao (GMR Group) and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad in exchange of 76% stake in airport. The land lease and state share holder agreement was completed in 2003. Central consession agreement was signed by Dr.Manmohan Singh in December 2004. The airport construction has started and completed between 2005 and 2008 by GMR.
Other Infrastructure
In 2003, Hyderabad Multi-Modal Transport System, which began construction in 2001, was opened to the public under the Naidu Government. A joint venture between the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the South Central Railway, The Phase-I was flagged off with the first MMTS train at Secunderabad railway station by the Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani while Naidu inaugurated its second leg. Over an operational length of 43 km, spanning 26 stations, the system operates over three major routes, Falaknuma–Lingampalli, Hyderabad–Falaknuma and Hyderabad–Lingampalli.
Chief Ministership (2014–2019).
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party and Jana Sena Party 
returned to power in Andhra Pradesh state, winning 102 seats out of 175 seats. Naidu led the TDP to an outright majority. Naidu took oath as the first Chief Minister of the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh at Mangalagiri on the grounds of Acharya Nagarjuna University near Guntur.
Foundation of Amaravati
The foundation for the city was laid at "Uddandarayunipalem" on 22 October 2015. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, Naidu as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, the Vice-President of India and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu; then Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan; the Japanese minister for economy trade and industry, Yōsuke Takagi; and the Singaporean Minister for Trade and Industry, S. Iswaran; laid the foundation for the city.
At a summit, Naidu said his ambition was to make Amaravati one of the happiest cities, encompassing the highest standards of livability and infrastructure with a thriving economic environment. Amaravati is based on trust and partnership with no single cash transaction between farmers and government in an agreement of returnable developed plots. It is the world's largest successful voluntary land pooling, with 27,956 farmers offering 33,920 acres within three months, launching the project. The Land Pooling Scheme is now widely acknowledged as a global best practice without any land agitation from local people taken by Naidu's government.
Bike ambulances for tribal areas
Bike ambulances were launched by the Naidu government to make medical care accessible to the remotest parts of the state where these vehicles transport patients who require emergency care from the interiors of the forest to roads, especially in areas inaccessible by regular ambulances. This has been a boon in the Tribal Areas where the access by road is limited.
Irrigation projects
Projects undertaken by the Government of Andhra Pradesh:
Role in election of the President of India.
Naidu took the initiative to select K. R. Narayanan from the Dalit community as President of India. In 2002 Vajpayee then hoped to give the post of President to a Muslim. Naidu at the time played a leading role in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and proposed the name of eminent scientist A. P. J. Abdul Kalam as its presidential candidate. Naidu as kingmaker appealed to the opposition Congress, the left and other national and state parties to support the Kalam candidacy at this crucial juncture after the 2002 Gujarat riots happened in the Narendra Modi government's tenure where the nation was racked by violence and there was a need to send the right signals to the international community and within the country with the support of Abdul Kalam. Naidu described the Dr. Kalam as the best choice besides making an outstanding contribution in the field of science and technology and said he was a humble, patriotic and non-political personality. Naidu was instrumental in Krishan Kant's, then governor of Andhra Pradesh, elevation to the vice-president's post in July 1997 when the United Front was in power at the Centre and Naidu was the UF convenor.
2004 election defeat.
The Telugu Desam Party failed to retain power after two successive wins, losing to the Indian National Congress after winning only 47 of 294 seats in the state assembly and five of 42 in the Lok Sabha. While many of his ministers lost, Naidu won decisively in Kuppam and the loss was due to the government prioritising agriculture and farmers less in the annual budget than industrialisation and IT service-based improvements.
2009 election defeat.
The TDP formed the Grand Alliance with support from the TRS Party who pitched for a separate state of Telangana, but Naidu lost to the Indian National Congress. Naidu's party won only 92 of 294 seats in the state assembly and 6 of 42 in the Lok Sabha.
Legacy.
Zero Budget Natural Farming.
The Naidu government launched a scale-out plan of Climate Resilient Zero Budget Natural Farming (CRZBNF) in 2018, with training provided to farmers through the Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS), a not-for-profit organisation belongs to the government making Andhra Pradesh the first state to adopt natural farming in India while the plan is to make transition all the 6 million farms/farmers from the use of chemical fertilizers to Zero-Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) by 2024, with considering of multiple objectives as every village will become a bio-village enhancing farmers welfare, consumer welfare and for the conservation of environment.
As Naidu declared if any farmers from the state would be rewarded with Rs 100 crore from the government of Andhra Pradesh if they won Nobel prize in natural farming.
United Nations Environment Programme.
Naidu delivered a keynote address at an event titled "Financing Sustainable Agriculture: Global Challenges and Opportunities", organised on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly. Naidu discussed the ZBNF program at the United Nations conference, starting his speech in Telugu and said it has been the most proud and unforgettable experience of his life. Naidu said that the state government has been encouraging ZBNF to reduce costs and risks in farming, more and safe, nutritious food, reverse migration to villages and enhance soil health to safeguard our collective future. He said microbial seed coating, bio-inoculants, cover crops, mulching, soil aeration, and zero chemicals will promote the living soil concept. He said a target was set to convert villages into bio-villages over a five-year period. The scale at which AP has implemented ZBNF has gathered praise and recognition internationally. He said that the zero budget farming will help to reach sustainable development goals.
As part of this, Naidu attended the Sustainable Development Impact Summit organised by the World Economic Forum and Bloomberg Global Business Forum held in New York, 2018. Naidu, as Chief Minister, launched the findings of the project, "Accelerating Sustainable Production" in Andhra Pradesh and reiterated the state's commitment to achieving most of the SDGs by 2022. The report highlighted the progress achieved under the SDG framework in its first two years and pointed out areas that demand extra attention. The previous year's report about SDG's was also presented at the High-Level Political Forum, hosted at the United Nations headquarters, New York in July 2017.
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
The CII organised the 22nd edition of CII Partnership Summit in 2016 with a partnership with the State Government of Andhra Pradesh, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and Ministry of Commerce and Industry at APIIC Ground, Harbour Park, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Chandrababu Naidu signed 331 memoranda of investment proposals worth Rs 4.78 lakh crore into Andhra Pradesh and suggested steps to promote exports. It is expected that these understandings produce more than 10 lakh jobs in the next five years in the state. And in 2018 CII Summit approaching through innovative ways Naidu promote Sunrise Andhra Pradesh as the destination for business in India with attracting new investors as part of a summit with displaying the products that are manufactured in the State, including Kia cars, Foxconn cellphones, Apollo tyres, and others. "The exhibits have included everything that reflects the achievements, desires, and potential of the State. Three Summits from 2016-2018 attracted delegates from 40 – 50 countries, witnessed cumulative participation of over 10,000 delegates, and served as the platform for execution of cumulative 1,437 MoUs with a committed investment of Rs 13.35 lakh crores (USD 200 billion) and committed employment of 24.60 lakhs (2.46 million).
Real Time Governance Society(RTGS).
An approach with a people-first motto, the Naidu government strives to provide an agile and efficient public service delivery system benefiting nearly 50 million citizens in a 360-degree life cycle approach through its Real Time Governance(RTG) initiative. With the help of RTG, Andhra Pradesh can now swiftly resolve citizen grievances and monitor infrastructure projects, Crime and incidents, weather and climatic events across the state in real time, leveraging technology services. Keeping technology in its mind and citizen centricity in its heart, Real Time Governance is set to revolutionise governance in Andhra Pradesh, catalysing government operations to create a safer, more efficient and sustainable society. The Real Time Governance model is the most powerful and intellectual initiative by the Naidu government to make insightful decisions that vibrantly transform citizen services from pensions to street lights on/off time, that garnered global recognition and AP Real Time Governance facility has received Hitachi Transformation People's Choice Award. And RTG is able to analyse big data sets operates from State Command and Communication Centre housed in the Secretariat Complex at Amaravati gathered from various data input sources from CC cameras, drones, biometric augmented technology and virtual reality, machine learning technology, Internet of Things (IoT), etc., adopting the most advanced technology of international standards for governance
Sports project "Gandiva".
The new sports policy announced for the period 2017-22 by the Naidu Government with a mission to groom sports talent and initiated a unique programme named ‘Project Gandiva’ that helps nurture the young talent by training them as competitive sportsmen. The project was formally launched on 24 July 2018 at Vidyadharapuram in Vijayawada by Naidu and said ‘Project Gandiva’ to revolutionise sports culture in the State and government will select students of age between 10–16 years from village to State level, and provide them with international level facilities, infrastructure, and coaching. Project Gandiva will ensure that every talent in the State of Andhra Pradesh is identified, nurtured and trained by international coaches. We will see Olympians rise from this sunrise State," Naidu said. Project Gandiva is a long-term athletic development programme designed by the State. As part of the policy, the talented sports persons will be picked up and groomed to compete at national and international events with winning medals and bring laurels to the State. For 2018-19, a long-term athletic development scheme under the programme was launched. The objective is to ensure that AP excels in sports in a span of 10 years from now. The project envisages that by 2021, the State should become number one in national athletics and by next year, the State should secure medals in Asian and Commonwealth Games. By 2024, State should represent Olympics and by 2028 Olympics. Naidu laid the foundation stone for the construction of ‘Amaravati International Sports Complex’ and the sports complex is designed to be built in 8.9 acres with a budget of Rs 60 crore and would feature world-class infrastructure with high-end equipment for sportsmen in Vidyadharapuram
Disaster management.
Cyclone Hudhud.
On 12 October 2014 Cyclone Hudhud struck the east coast of India near Visakhapatnam (Vizag) with wall and roof collapses and uprooting of trees on roads, which was pounded by rains and galeforce winds at 170/180 km/h of speed causing devastating effect and makes it even difficult to travel and conduct rescue operations to the Vishakhapatnam with railway lines being badly damaged and airport services affected. At the time Naidu alerted officials infront the Cyclone Hudhud threat and reviewed the preparedness of the state in Disaster Management while hands-on in Vizag, Naidu immediately shifted base from the capital of Hyderabad to the port town of Vizag to ensure his administration delivers and worked from a Bus turned into the makeshift as War-Room, Office and Home and directed the collectors and officials to set up relief camps and to evacuate people especially the tribals the first thing to do is minimise casualties from areas confirmed that have cyclone threat and make sure ready with stock up essential commodities for relief camps and serve the affected with providing food and he advised the officials to ensure that health camps have continuous power supply. The Naidu government issued an order deputing district officials, heads of departments and every government employee would be on duty until relief, restoration and rehabilitation works were fulfilled. For Naidu, his biggest concern is that phone lines remain dead, placing communication limits for rescue and relief operations. He criticised telecom providers for lack of restoration even a couple of days after the cyclone and said his efficiency in disaster relief works has gone down by 50 percent because of the communication gap, adding that he is unable to engage with the disaster relief work force and people on the ground due to lack of connectivity and asked them to expedite reconnection of the network and to send continuous updates to people about the cyclone threat and SMS would be sent in Telugu to people. This apart, officials have been directed to give updates about the cyclone through All India Radio (AIR). Naidu has utilised the Hyderabad National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) to use GIS, GPS and remote sensing instruments to detect the detrimental effects caused by Cyclone Hudhud in the region. The NRSC employed geo-tagging to create a map of the damages, in order to facilitate the action of the national Disaster response forces (NDRF) deployed to provide support relief. Although precaution and mass evacuation plans have been implemented after NASA's cyclone alert on 8 October, the storm generated severe consequences, including property and live losses and communication systems' disruption. According to Andhra Pradesh's Revenue (Disaster Management) Department. a total of 2,48,004 people were affected by Hudhud, 61 persons were killed which also damaged 70 houses and left 34 animals dead, trees and hoardings, crop loss, damaged roads, bridges, reservoirs, tanks and railway lines and the Vizag airport roof was blown away while its communications satellite network collapsed, has suffered a loss of Rs.500 crore and 40,000 electricity poles were damaged and around 6,000 transformers damaged. Enormous damage happened to the agriculture sector, resulting in crop loss of Rs 948 crore in 2.38 lakh hectares and horticulture sector was also the worst hit with the loss estimated at Rs 1339.2 crore (87,984 ha) also including damage to the tune of Rs 6,136 crore to private industries and other Damages to Visakhapatnam Steel Plant at Rs 1,000 crore, Indian Navy Rs 2,000 crore, Andhra University Rs 300 crore were estimated.
In three days, the Naidu government had evacuated 1,50,000 people and accommodated in 223 relief camps and 6,85,000 people had been provided food and return the city to normalcy while restoration the power supply is the first priority with began erecting electric poles and transformers being laid brought in 500 trucks, 250 proclains and many gensets in hundreds from wherever they were available and moreover clearing thoroughfares of trees on roads and supply of essential commodities like food, milk and water tankers to households, ensure stock availability of petrol in filling stations and revived of Public Transportation services, cell phone towers and internet connectivity were almost restored, after all it was devastated by the cyclone fury. According to Naidu, the exact financial loss caused by Cyclone Hudhud is calculated and estimates indicate that it up to Rs 70,000 crore and central government announced the interim aid of 1000 crore for operations. Naidu said in an interview he will be in Vizag till he is satisfied about a job accomplished and noted the extent of the damage...we cannot visualise, imagine, assess it but the government was able to reduce loss of life due to the precautionary measures taken proactive and timely action and after to re-stabilize their livelihood
Cyclone Titli.
Following Cyclone Hudhud, the next cyclone that battered the north-east coastal Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts of Andhra Pradesh state was Cyclone Titli, leaving as many as 2.25 lakh families in about 18 mandals on 11 October 2018, triggering gales of causing extensive damage. As per official estimations, 9.07 lakh people, in 202 villages, in 18 mandals were affected due to the cyclone. About 8,962 houses were damaged, of roads were destroyed, 386 trees fell and 80 minor irrigation projects and tanks were damaged. Power supply was affected in six towns and 319 villages. The cell phone networks of BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited), and private telecom companies were affected, sending communications out for two day. Horticulture was hit with damages to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore followed by agriculture (Rs 800 crore). Naidu acted as soon as the cyclone warning was received by alerting the administration to prepare for the calamity and was in constant touch with officials of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Real-Time Governance and alerted the Collectors of both Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam districts. The Naidu government appealed to people in the cyclone-affected villages to be alert to prevent loss of life and directed the officials to take up relief and rehabilitation works in the affected regions and issued immediate orders for necessary assistance to the villagers and farmers who suffered severe losses. rice was provided to the families and to the families of the fishermen community. Additionally, dal, palm oil, potatoes, onions and sugar were distributed to families, and milk was made available to children in cyclone-affected regions. Rs. 5 lakh was announced as an ex gratia grant to family members of 8 persons killed by the cyclone, and that asbestos sheets would be distributed free of cost to fishermen to help with the repairing of their houses, also to pay Rs 2 lakh for the fisheremen who lost their boats. Compensation will be Rs 6 lakh for motor boats and Rs 10,000 for each net. Aqua farmers will receive Rs 30,000 compensation per hectare to recover from the damage. 100 Deputy Collectors were pressed into service to take part in cyclone relief operations and with a nodal officer appointed in-charge of each mandal to supervise relief operations. More than 50% of the power supply was restored by the next day. Naidu addressed people at Lollaputtuga, Balliputtuga, Patavaraka, Manikyaputtuga, Borivanka, and Sompeta and interacted with them on the relief measures while feedback was collected from people to know whether they received water and food and restoration of power supply was assured. The Real Time Governance Society (RGTS) correctly forecast the course of Cyclone Titli in the coastal region of Srikakulam district above Kalingapatnam. The cyclone made its landfall at Pallesarathi village, Vajrapukothuru Mandal on the night of 11 October 2018. The clear prediction helped in communicating with the local agencies to evacuate the coastal population to safe places in time and taking other preparatory measures while passing the communication to fisherman to remain off the sea for fishing due to the cyclone and rough sea. All these measures by RTGS ensured that the number of casualties due to Cyclone Titli remained low. Though protective measures were taken, there was still eight people killed, seven in Srikakulam district and one in Vizianagaram, whereas Titli claimed more than 62 lives in Odisha State.
Naidu wrote two letters stating the total damage assessment to the central government to declare Cyclone Titli as a national calamity, while demanding Rs 1200 crore as interim relief. He also requested the central government to depute teams to assess damage from the cyclone. Naidu expressed disappointment at the lukewarm response from the central government despite large-scale damage in Andhra Pradesh from the cyclone.
Cyclone Phethai.
Due to the previous experience with Cyclone Titli, the Naidu government responded to the third cyclone using RTGS and was able to deftly handle Cyclone Phethai, which hit central coastal Andhra Pradesh near Kakinada on 17 December 2018. RTGS monitored the entire track of Cyclone Phethai right from its inception as a low-pressure system 1400 south-east of Bay of Bengal to the time it formed into a depression, deep depression and severe cyclone until it made landfall off AP Coast between Kakinada and Yanam. Understanding the movement of the cyclone, RTGS alerted the rural departments in central districts especially Guntur, Krishna, East and West Godavari and up to Visakhapatnam to further advise farmers to quickly complete harvesting of their standing crops. This ensured more than 30,000 hectares of Paddy crops were saved from lodging and inundation due to the cyclone and Fishermen were alerted one week before Landfall not to venture into the sea considering a forecast of rough sea and tidal waves. There was not even a single casualty of fishermen during the cyclone. RTGS alerted the fisheries department, local administrations, local communities, village functionaries of the impending storm through IVRS calls advising them to stay off the sea. Based on RTGS recommendation, communication was also sent to fishermen who went into the sea to return. Nearly 350 vessels were made to return before the cyclone. There was a case of four boats that went deep into the sea that could not be communicated using mobile phones. RTGS utilised the FM radio and sent advisories to these vessels naming their villages asking them to immediately return. The Naidu government also pressed helicopter operations, taking the support of the navy to identify the four vessels carrying 26 fishermen that drifted off from East Godavari and one casualty were reported and advisories were also sent to the citizens of vulnerable mandals along the coast where the cyclone was predicted to make the landfall forcing the evacuation of 20,000 people have been sheltered in relief camps.
2015 Cash for Vote Scam.
The 2015 cash-for-votes scam was a political scandal, the second scandal of its kind since the 2008 cash-for-votes scandal. It started off when the Telugu Desam Party leaders of Telangana state were caught in video footage, aired in the media, offering bribes to a nominated MLA, Elvis Stephenson, for his vote in the 2015 elections of the Telangana Legislative Council. The TDP MLA Revanth Reddy was arrested by the Telangana Police when he was offering Rs. 50 lakhs to Stephenson. Reddy was then presented before the court and was sent to jail. Similarly, the phone conversation, which was quoted as the voice of Naidu with Stephenson was aired in the news media.
The Telugu Desam Party alleged that the scandal was a political vendetta, doctored by the Telangana State Government under the direction of K. Chandrashekhar Rao, the Chief Minister of Telangana, alongside the YSR Congress Party. In a further development, The High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad granted bail to Revanth Reddy and two other co-accused due to lack of substantial evidence.
2019 election defeat.
The Telugu Desam Party (led by Naidu) lost the 2019 general elections to the YSR Congress Party led by Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy. It was the party's biggest defeat since its inception in 1982; TDP won 23 assembly seats out of 175 and 3 Lok Sabha seats out of 25.
Arrest in 2019.
In 2019, Naidu was taken into preventive custody by the police citing law and order issues as he planned to organise the "Chalo Atmakur" rally to protest political violence and the massacre of his Telugu Desam party activists by the ruling party. Following his arrest, Naidu went on a hunger strike to protest his house arrest.
Business career.
The Heritage Group (HFL) was incorporated by Naidu in 1992. In 1994, HFL went for public issue to raise resources. Currently, the organisation is being led by Nara Brahmani, Naidu's daughter-in-law. Heritage has hundreds of outlets throughout Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and a significant presence in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Odisha, NCR-Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh which comprises a solid portion of Naidu's current assets.