CM Naidu back in the saddle as ‘CEO’; YSRCP struggles for a foothold

Nara Chandrababu Naidu, the four-time Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, appears to be firmly back in the saddle as the ‘CEO’ of the State.

As 2025 draws to a close, the TDP-led NDA alliance, which secured a resounding victory in the 2024 elections, seems to have navigated through the year without major setbacks. The government has delivered some notable successes, especially if the GSDP figures and the promised investments from various companies materialise.

On the other hand, the main opposition YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), reduced to just 11 Assembly seats in the 2024 elections and couldn’t qualify for the status of the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly for the party chief, has been making a vain bid to secure the post.

However, despite multiple appeals from Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the former CM and president of the YSRCP, to the Speaker of the Assembly, the recognition has been denied, based on the rules governing the recognition of opposition leaders in India’s parliamentary system.

This setback has rendered the Assembly sessions of 2025 largely a formality, as the YSRCP has boycotted the sessions. The proceedings have been mostly one-sided, with only a few queries raised by some MLAs.

Back to business

Mr. Naidu, who is known for his corporate-like approach to governance, has focused much of his energy on developing the new ‘blue-green’ capital city at Amaravati. The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet has passed a resolution to officially designate Amaravati as the State’s capital and has sent it to the Union Government for further action. The Centre has responded positively, with reports suggesting that the Law Ministry has approved the proposal and will soon present a draft Bill to the Union Cabinet.

The State government has estimated the total construction cost at around ₹79,000 crore, with some amount of funding in the form of loans and grants from the Union government.

Mr. Naidu, ever the strategist, has also been making strides in attracting investments. At the recent CII Summit in Visakhapatnam, he claimed to have signed investments worth ₹13.25 lakh crore through over 600 MoUs.

Key players that have pledged investment in the State include the Adani Group, which plans to invest ₹1 lakh crore in sectors such as ports, logistics, energy, and data centers; Google, which has committed $15 billion to set up an AI and data hub in Visakhapatnam; ReNew Energy Global, which will invest ₹82,000 crore in green energy; and Reliance, which has announced plans for a 1 GW data center.

Opposition’s criticism

However, the Opposition YSRCP is leaving no stone unturned in dismissing these investments as unrealistic, accusing Mr. Naidu of misleading the public. The Chief Minister has also faced resistance over concerns regarding the power and water supply to these data centers, as they are expected to consume significant amounts of both resources without creating substantial employment.

The Opposition, including the Left parties and the Congress, has also seized on the issue of hike in power tariffs notwithstanding the government’s claim to have reduced charges through the ‘true-down’ mechanism to some extent. It is worth noting that the TDP lost the 2004 elections partly due to an increase in the tariffs.

NDA’s challenges

Although the ruling NDA government has delivered on most of its major promises, the latest being the free bus ride for women, it is facing backlash over its decision to build 17 new medical colleges on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. These colleges were initially planned by the YSRCP government but were taken over by the NDA. The Opposition has latched on to this issue, despite assurances from the ruling coalition that the government will retain full control over the PPP model and that allegations of poor students being excluded are unfounded.

This controversy is likely to persist as the year ends, with Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy already leading a state-wide campaign, having collected over 1 crore signatures against the PPP model for the medical colleges.