Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared a warm moment with Telugu superstars K Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan at the oath-taking ceremony of Chandrababu Naidu. He led the two brothers to the centre stage by their hands in a gesture that underlined the importance of the BJP's Andhra alliance. They also posed for the cameras, holdings hands.
PM Modi also shared a candid moment with Mr Naidu after the latter was sworn in as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister for the fourth time. After his oath of office, Mr Naidu walked up to PM Modi and the two leaders shared a tight hug, marking the formation of a TDP-BJP coalition government in Andhra.
PM Modi's cabinet colleagues, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, and JP Nadda, also attended the swearing-in ceremony, besides alliance partners like Eknath Shinde of Shiv Sena and Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas).
The BJP had fought elections in Andhra Pradesh in an alliance with the TDP and Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena. Mr Kalyan was also sworn in as a minister after Mr Naidu.
The BJP-TDP-Jana Sena alliance swept the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Andhra Pradesh elections. They won 164 out of the total 175 seats in the Assembly and 21 of Andhra's 25 Lok Sabha seats.
The TDP also emerged as a key ally whose support was crucial for the BJP to form a coalition government at the centre after it fell short of the 272-majority mark. In the Modi 3.0 cabinet, TDP has got a cabinet berth and a Minister of State post.
The BJP and TDP had struck an alliance just ahead of the elections, marking Mr Naidu's return to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after six years. The TDP was a crucial part of the NDA until 2018, when Mr Naidu, then the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, decided to exit over concerns regarding financial support for the state.
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