Amaravati, June 21: Two-and-half years after walking out over alleged insulting remarks made against his family members, Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Friday returned to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly as Chief Minister. Breaking down publicly over the humiliation he faced as the then leader of the opposition in November 2021, Chandrababu Naidu had vowed to return to the Assembly only after taking oath as the Chief Minister.
With the Telugu Desam Party led alliance storming to power with a landslide majority in recent elections, Naidu entered the House as Chief Minister. On the first day of the first session of the newly elected Assembly, Naidu stepped into the House after bowing and touching the ground at the entrance. Legislators of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its allies accorded him a warm welcome. They raised slogans ‘Welcome to august House’ and ‘Truth has prevailed, democracy has won’. The TDP members were also carrying placards with Naidu’s picture.
The TDP supremo had not entered the House since November 19, 2021, when he walked out in protest against the highly objectionable remarks made by the then-ruling party members against his family members. Alleging that the MLAs of YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) humiliated him by making personal remarks about his wife Bhuvaneswari, Naidu had turned emotional and broke down at a news conference later.
Stating that he never faced such humiliation in his political life, he likened the Assembly to 'Kaurava Sabha' and decided to boycott it till 2024. The seasoned politician had said his wife never interfered in politics, but the YSRCP leaders dragged her name and resorted to character assassination. The TDP President had said that he tolerated all the humiliations during the last two-and-a-half years but the ruling party crossed all limits. Naidu had appealed to people to extend support to him in this fight for 'dharma'.
In the elections held last month, TDP Jana Sena BJP alliance bagged 164 seats in the 175 member Assembly. YSRCP, which had 151 members in the previous Assembly, was reduced to just 11 seats. The alliance also won 21 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats.
