Naidu ousts NTR, takes over as CM in AP family coup

Extracts from HT’s reports on Naidu seizing the reins of the state from his father-in-law

- HT Correspondent

The last week of August 1995 saw unprecedented political drama in Hyderabad that thrust a hitherto low-profile N Chandrababu Naidu into the national spotlight as he replaced his father-in-law and Telugu Desam Party founder NT Rama Rao as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in a family coup.

Hindustan Times chronicled the developments that culminated with an August 26, 1995 report on the late-night confirmation by the then Andhra Pradesh Assembly speaker Y Ramakrishnudu that Naidu had the support of 163 MLAs of the TDP in the 294-member assembly. This would pave the way for Naidu to be sworn in as chief minister, the HT report said.

A day earlier, HT reported that over 152 MLAs under the leadership of Naidu, then state revenue and finance minister, met at a 3-star hotel in Hyderabad on August 24 and passed a resolution asking the governor not to honour a request from Rama Rao to dissolve the Assembly. For two days, the Viceroy Hotel on Tank Bund Road would hold centerstage in the drama.

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, popularly known as NTR, was a matinee idol-turned politician who became the first non-Congress chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in 1983 after founding the TDP in March the year before. The main trigger for the revolt against him was the growing role of his second wife, Lakshmi Parvathi, in governmental and party affairs.