Who is the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh?

N. Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party, who returned as Chief Minister for a fourth time after the NDA's landslide win in the 2024 election. The actor-politician Pawan Kalyan of the Jana Sena Party serves as his deputy.

What was the result of the 2024 Andhra Pradesh election?

The NDA, made up of the TDP, the Jana Sena Party and the BJP, won an overwhelming majority of the 175 assembly seats, while Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSRCP, which had governed with a huge majority since 2019, was reduced to a single-digit tally. It was one of the most decisive reversals in recent Indian politics.

What happened to Jagan Mohan Reddy?

Jagan Mohan Reddy, who had won a landslide in 2019 and governed Andhra Pradesh for five years, saw his YSRCP collapse to around 11 seats in 2024. He became the leader of a much-diminished opposition after one of the sharpest falls from power in the state's history.

What is the Amaravati capital issue?

Amaravati is the greenfield capital city project championed by Chandrababu Naidu. The previous YSRCP government had proposed a three-capital plan that effectively stalled it. With Naidu back in power, reviving Amaravati as the state capital has become a central priority of his government.

Chandrababu Naidu's Comeback: How the NDA Swept Andhra Pradesh, Explained

Few political comebacks in India have been as complete as the one Andhra Pradesh delivered in 2024. Five years earlier, Jagan Mohan Reddy had won a landslide so large it looked unbeatable. In 2024, the voters reversed themselves almost as emphatically, and Chandrababu Naidu, the veteran many had written off, walked back into the chief minister's office for a fourth time.

This is the story of that sweep, and the state it has reshaped.

The 60-second version

The winner: The NDA (TDP, Jana Sena, BJP) won a landslide in the 2024 Andhra Pradesh election.
The CM: Chandrababu Naidu returned for a fourth term, with actor Pawan Kalyan as deputy chief minister.
The collapse: Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSRCP, which had governed with a huge majority since 2019, crashed to around 11 seats.
The priority: Reviving the Amaravati capital project, stalled under the previous government.
The scale: One of the most lopsided reversals in recent Indian politics.

The reversal

In 2019, Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSRCP swept Andhra Pradesh, winning all but a handful of the 175 assembly seats. His five-year term was built on an expansive welfare model and a combative style. By 2024, accumulated anti-incumbency, a powerful alliance against him, and questions over governance and the economy turned that dominance into a rout.

The NDA, combining Chandrababu Naidu's TDP, Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena and the BJP, won an overwhelming majority, while the YSRCP was reduced to single digits. The man who returned to power, Chandrababu Naidu, had been chief minister three times before and was now back for a fourth, an extraordinary feat of political endurance.

Who is Chandrababu Naidu

One of the most experienced politicians in the country, Naidu first became chief minister in the 1990s and built a reputation as a technocratic administrator associated with the rise of Hyderabad as a technology hub before the state was bifurcated. The 2014 to 2019 term saw him champion the new capital of Amaravati. His 2024 comeback, in alliance with a popular film star and the BJP, completed a remarkable political recovery.

The agenda

Naidu's government has centred on a few large commitments: reviving Amaravati as a single, purpose-built capital after the previous government's three-capital proposal stalled it; pushing major projects like the Polavaram irrigation scheme; and delivering an ambitious set of welfare promises made during the campaign. The challenge is fiscal: matching expansive guarantees with the state's strained finances.

Why it matters

Andhra Pradesh is a large, strategically important southern state, and its politics has national reach. Naidu is a key NDA ally at the centre, which gives his government influence in Delhi and makes the state's stability relevant to national arithmetic. The presence of Pawan Kalyan, a major film star turned deputy chief minister, also reflects the enduring power of cinema in southern politics, a theme echoing across the region.

What each side says

The NDA government frames the result as a decisive rejection of the previous administration and a mandate to rebuild the capital, attract investment and restore the state's finances and governance.

The YSRCP argues its welfare model transformed the lives of the poor and that its defeat reflected an unusually broad alliance rather than a rejection of its policies, and it now positions itself as the opposition watchdog.

What to watch next

Amaravati's revival. Whether the capital project moves decisively forward is the government's signature test.
Fiscal management. Balancing big welfare and infrastructure promises against the state's finances.
The TDP-Jana Sena-BJP balance. How smoothly the three-party alliance governs together.
Jagan's opposition. Whether the YSRCP rebuilds from its collapse or continues to fade.

Andhra Pradesh has swung from one landslide to its opposite in a single cycle. Chandrababu Naidu's fourth act is a study in political survival, and the state's direction now rests on whether he can convert a sweeping mandate into delivery.

This explainer is compiled from public reporting and election records. It reflects the situation at the time of writing and will be updated as events develop.