The State of Andhra

In August 1947, the areas currently within the state of Andhra Pradesh were divided among the princely state of Hyderabad, the Madras Presidency and the Mysore state. Hyderabad State acceded to the Indian union at the completion of Operation Polo in September 1948. Potti Sriramulu worked towards unifying all the Telugu-speaking people, who were residing in the united madras presidency, into one state. Soon after his death due to an indefinite hunger strike in December 1952, the then Prime Minister of India Jawarharlal Nehru announced the state of Andhra would be formed which occurred on 1 October 1953 with Kurnool as capital. However the princely state of Hyderabad which had been placed under the temporary governorship of the defeated Nizam from 1948 was formed a separate state known as " Hyderabad State " in 1953 under the chief mininstership of Boorgula Ramakrishna Rao. As per the recommendations of the States Reorganisation Commission in 1956, Andhra Pradesh became among the first states formed on a linguistic basis on 1 November 1956 by uniting the Telugu speaking parts of Hyderabad state, Mysore state and the state of Andhra

Dominant Congress

The Indian National Congress party won all the state elections from the emergence of the state in 1953 till 1983.Many Prominent leaders have developed the state a lot by constructing projects like Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam Dams. There were 9 different chief ministers from the formation of the state in 1956

Demand for Separate State

The Northwest region of the state is called Telangana and includes the capital city of Hyderabad. The influx of the people from the coastal region into the city of Hyderabad created many social tensions. Slowly the discontent spread among the Telangana officials and the unemployed youth who felt that they were exploited by the people of the Andhra region. The discontent manifested itself when a student of Khammam went on a hunger-strike in January 1969 demanding the implementation of the safeguards for Telangana provided in the Gentlemen's Agreement. Slowly the agitation spread to Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana. In the beginning, the movement demanded the implementation of the safeguards agreed upon earlier, but later it wanted the separation of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh. The agitation took a new turn when the Congress legislators from Telangana supported the movement. Dr.Chenna Reddy entered the fray and formed the Telangana Praja Samiti to lead the movement. But in November 1969 there was a major split in the TPS which eventually led to the downfall of the movement. In September 1971,Kasu Brahmananda Reddy, the then Chief Minister, resigned his position to make room for a leader from Telangana to become the Chief Minister. On the 30th of September, 1971, P.V.Narasimha Rao became the Chief Minister. The Telangana Praja Samiti was dissolved and its members rejoined the Congress

History Made by Telugu Desam Party

In 1983, N. T. Rama Rao, a popular telugu actor established his Telugu Desam Party (meaning, Land of Telugus) with the support of people's dissent arising out of frequent changes in chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, on a platform of "Telugu Pride". Within a 9 months of it's  formation, Telugu Desam was voted to power and NTR became the first Non-Congress chief minister of Andhra Pradesh.  First breakup of the Telugu Desam party In August 1984, when NTR was in the United States undergoing heart surgery, the state finance minister Nadendla Bhaskara Rao broke the party and formed the state government with the help of the opposition Congress(I). However his government lasted only 31 days as he did not command a majority in the Assembly. NTR was reinstated to power on September 16, 1984.

Congress Back to Power

The Congress returned to power when Dr. Marri Chenna Reddy was sworn in for his second term as chief minister on December 3, 1989. The Congress lasted in power until the elections of 1994.

TDP Crushes The Grand Old Party

n the elections of 1994, N. T. Rama Rao's Telugu Desam Party ran advocating prohibition in response to a women's movement. He had then recently married his second wife Lakshmi Parvati. NTR's campaign focussed on the rural areas which won him a significant majority in the state elections of 1995.

Rise of Chandrababu

When NTR became the Chief minister in 1995, he appointed one of his son-in-laws Nara Chandrababu Naidu as the Revenue Minister. Soon after the formation of the government in response to the growing influence of Lakshmi Parvati on the political decisions of NTR, Chandrababu Naidu convinced a majority of the TDP MLA's to elect him as the chief minister. Since most of the legislators had gone over to his side, the Anti Defection Law did not apply and the Telugu Desam Party label passed on to the Chandrababu Naidu faction. The NTR faction became TDP(NTR). NTR died on January 18, 1996 and Lakshmi Parvati succeeded him as the head of TDP(NTR) which no longer had any represntation in the state legislature. Chandrababu Naidu's TDP won the next election of 1999 and was the Chief Minister for 9 years until 2004 when it was defeated by the Indian National Congress whose leader Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy became the current chief minister.

Emergence of TRS

The second Telangana movement for a separate state was started by K. Chandrashekar Rao who broke from the TDP in 2001 to form the Telangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS).

Current Scenario

Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy of the Indian National Congress is the current Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. His party won the 2004 elections as part of a coalition of with TRS. During the run-up to 2004 elections, Dr. Y.S Rajasekhar Reddy was able bring a common platform and mutual agreement within the Andhra Pradesh Congress Party. His campaign took form of a three-month-long "padhayatra" or foot-walk. The elections resulted in the defeat of the then-ruling Telugu Desam Party under the leadership of Chandrababu Naidu. The congress also won the municipal elections in 2005 and district local body elections in 2006 and also Panchayat Elections in 2006.2009 General Elections and Assembly Elections will be Commencing in April 2009 This time there is a great change in Andhra Politics with the entry of Megastar Chiranjeevi into the state politics which made YSR and CBN to rethink their strategy