In 40 Pics: TDP @40 Years!

​The TDP ​is celebrating 40 years of its existence today. The party was formed on March 29, 1982, by the late N T Rama Rao.

It has been influential in the state of Andhra Pradesh and won power three times from 1994 to 2004 and has come to power again with a majority in the 2014 Telangana Assembly Elections.

​TDP was founded in 1982 by N. T. Rama Rao, who had served as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from 1983 until his death in December 1996. After NTR’s death, his son-in-law Nara Chandrababu Naidu took control of the party and has remained the leader since then.​

Sr NTR served with never seen welfare schemes and no corruption government for two terms. The second time when was elected he got a thunderous majority – 200+ off 294 for 3 times. He also was president of the National front to which our Prime Minister VP SINGH was elected.

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 a US business school – the Kellogg School of Management in 2000.

NTR was known as an advocate of Andhra Pradesh’s distinct cultural identity, distinguishing it from the erstwhile Madras State with which it was often associated. At the national level, he was instrumental in the formation of the National Front, a coalition of non-Congress parties which governed India from 1989 until 1990.

Naidu was the Chairman of the National Task Force on Micro-irrigation from the Government of India, Ministry of Agriculture in 2003. He was the head of the 13-member Committee of Chief Ministers to promote digital payment systems and financial inclusion in India which was constituted by the federal government in 2016

First term as Chief Minister

In the elections, the TDP allied with the Sanjaya Vichara Manch party and decided to field educated candidates who had a good name in the society and were not indulging in corruption, which was an innovative political concept at the time. NTR himself decided to contest from two assembly constituencies, Gudivada and Tirupati. NTR used many innovative ways of campaigning, such as being the first politician in India to use rath yatras for campaigning.

TDP came into power within nine months from the date when it was started. It was the first non-congress party to come to power in undivided Andhra Pradesh and the only regional party that played an opposition role in the Loksabha.

AP Fiber Grid: This is a first-of-its-kind affordable “Internet for All” project in the world, which is a model for developing economies. The way it has been planned for Rs330 crore and being executed to provide broadband for every household is a model for the rest of the country. Once this is implemented fully, it will be replicated in other states, under the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN).

​Naidu launched “Nava Nirmana Deeksha” scheme to attract investments. He also launched “Praja Sadhikara Samikshaalu” to ensure transparency in the implementation of welfare schemes and also for regular feedback from the beneficiaries. Some more major achievements of TDP are, the building of the megacity Amaravati, the Renovation of bus stands in Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati to Ananthapur expressway, chandranna bheema helping families of workers in unorganized sector stand back on their foot, water to Rayalaseema for the first time after more than 4 decades, NTR housing scheme, 24*7 power.

In November 1998, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then prime minister of India and Chandrababu Naidu inaugurated the HITEC City (Cyberabad) by opening the Cyber Towers, a landmark building in Hyderabad.

​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.​

Chandrababu Naidu started his political career as an MLA and was elected as MP from the Krishna constituency in 2004. He also served as the Chief Minister of AP from 1999 to March 2004.

Chandrababu Naidu is known for his tremendous work in implementing the use of modern Information Technology (IT) in Andhra Pradesh. Naidu is credited with making Hyderabad one of the credential IT hubs in India.

NTR returned to power for a third and final time in the December 1994 state assembly elections with his party in alliance with the Left Front. This alliance won 269 seats in the 294 seat Assembly, with the TDP alone winning 226.

In the 1983 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, TDP won by an absolute majority winning 202 out of the 294 seats in the state assembly, with NTR himself winning both the seats he contested. Their alliance with the Sanjaya Vichara Manch fetched 202 seats. NTR was sworn in as the 10th and the first non-Congress Chief Minister of the state on 9 January 1983 with ten cabinet ministers and five ministers of State.