Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu has been unanimously elected as TDLP leader in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, paving the way for his becoming the first Chief Minister of the new state post bifurcation.

“TDP legislators, who assembled in Tirupati, last night unanimously elected Naidu as the legislature party leader,” according to an announcement made by the party here.

Naidu, who flew in here late in the evening from Hyderabad was elected unopposed by 106 newly-elected legislators in the 175-member new Assembly at a formal meeting held at the senate hall of Sri Venkateswara University, it said.

Senior TDP legislator KE Krishnamurthy proposed Naidu’s name as TDLP leader, while another senior MLA Kodela Sivaprasada Rao seconded it and was supported by other legislators unanimously, the announcement said.

TDP won 102 seats in the 175-member new Assembly of Andhra Pradesh in the recently held elections.

Naidu is scheduled to take oath as chief minister at a public function at Nagarjuna Nagar between Vijayawada and Guntur at 7.27 p.m. on June 8.

He has been the longest-serving Chief Minister of (united) Andhra Pradesh from September 1995 to May 2004 and also the longest serving Leader of Opposition from 2004 to 2014.

The 64-year-old tech savvy leader had expressed his desire to be elected as TDLP leader from the temple town of Tirupati.

Now that Andhra Pradesh has been bifurcated, the TDLP meeting was held for the first time in Tirupati that falls under the Rayalaseema region as the swearing-in ceremony would be held in coastal Andhra.

Naidu had escaped an attempt on his life when suspected PWG Naxalites triggered land mine blasts as he was proceeding to the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara, near here on October 1, 2003.

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