Jagan Reddy elected YSRCP legislature party leader

YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy was on Saturday unanimously elected the legislature party leader by the new MLAs, paving his way to take over as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

Reddy had steered YSRCP to a four-fifths majority in the 175-member strong Assembly in the polls, ousting N Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) from power in the state.

He was felicitated by the party members at the meeting here. Reddy will take oath as the Chief Minister in the temple town of Tirupati on May 30, party sources said.

YSRCP finished the tally by winning 151 seats, wresting power from TDP whose strength was drastically reduced from 102 in the 2014 Assembly elections to a mere 23. YSRCP polled 49.9 per cent votes, while TDP got a 39.2 per cent vote share.

The party also bagged 22 Lok Sabha seats out of the 25 in the state during the simultaneous elections. While TDP could get only three seats, one went to Jana Sena Party led by actor-turn politician Pawan Kalyan.

After TDP's rout, Naidu had submitted his resignation to Governor ESL Narasimhan on Thursday.