TDP invites PM for Chandrababu Naidu's swearing-in

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Thursday invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the swearing-in of its chief N. Chandrababu Naidu as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday.

A delegation of TDP leaders led by Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapati Raju met Modi in the national capital to formally extend an invitation.

Naidu is set to take oath as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday at Mangalgiri between Vijayawada and Guntur.

The newly-elected legislators of the TDP elected Naidu as their leader at a meeting held at the temple town of Tirupati Wednesday night.

The 64-year-old will be the first chief minister of Andhra Pradesh after a separate Telangana state was carved out.

Naidu was the longest serving chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh from 1995 to 2004 and opposition leader from 2004 to 2014.

The TDP, a member of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), bagged 102 seats in the 175-member Andhra Pradesh assembly in the recent election.

Naidu has also invited chief ministers of various states including Telangana's K. Chandrasekhara Rao for the swearing-in.

The TDP chief had not attended Rao's oath-taking ceremony on June 2, though Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan had invited him for the same. The TDP leaders complained that Rao did not invite their party president.

According to TDP sources, Naidu has written personally to the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Goa, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Nagaland to invite them for the swearing-in.