Governor invites Naidu to form govt in AP

HYDERABAD: Following TDP legislators staking their claim to form the first government in the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh, governor ESL Narasimhan on Thursday invited the yellow party chief N Chandrababu Naidu to form the government.

Agreeing to the place, date and time fixed for the swearing- in ceremony of Naidu as the chief minister of AP as informed to him by the TDP leadership, the governor sent an invite to Naidu asking him to form the first government in Seemandhra by taking oath as the CM on June 8 in Guntur district.

Earlier in the day, a delegation of TDP legislators led by party floor leader in the Legislative Council Yanamala Ramakrishnudu called on governor ESL Narasimhan at the Raj Bhavan here on Thursday and handed over a letter to him informing about the election.

Apart from Yanamala and Naidu's senior colleague KE Krishnamurthy, former minister Mandali Buddha Prasad and party MLAs Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar and Peethala Sujatha were part of the TDP delegation, which met the governor.

Emerging from the meeting, Ramakrishnudu told mediapersons that they had submitted a letter to Narasimhan informing him that Naidu had been elected as TDLP leader.

Hence, they had urged the governor to invite the TDP chief to form the first government in the truncated AP. ''Governor Narasimhan has asked us to provide him details with regard to place, date and time of the oathtaking of our party chief Naidu as the chief minister of Seemandhra.

As you all know, Naidu's swearing-in will be held at a place opposite Nagarjuna University, located on Vijayawada-Guntur stretch, on June 8 at 7.27 p.m.,'' he said.

Later in the evening, the TDP leadership sent another letter to the Governor's office informing about the details of the place, date and time of Naidu's swearing-in as sought by Narasimhan.

In fact, the TDP had won 102 seats in the 175-member Assembly of the truncated AP in the recently-held Assembly polls. SVSN Varma, newly-elected MLA from Pithapuram Assembly constituency in East Godavari district, had rejoined the party recently. He had contested from the seat as an independent as he was denied TDP ticket from the same seat.

Similarly, another MLA Amanchi Krishna Mohan, who had won the polls on behalf of Navodayam Party from Chirala Assembly segment in Prakasam district after quitting the Congress, too had extended his support to the TDP. With these two MLAs joining the TDP, the total strength of the party in the Assembly went up to 104.