Chandrababu Naidu: Back in the Reckoning

From being a Congress MLA from Chandragiri in Andhra Pradesh to being a pillar of anti-Congressism in India, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, 64, has travelled a long way.

Mr Naidu is set to be the chief minister of the residual Andhra Pradesh. His TDP partnered the BJP in the elections. It won a majority in the assembly election with 108 out of 175 seats. With 16 seats, the TDP is the BJP's second largest ally in Parliament. When he met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the capital on May 30, he was promised full support on his wish list for the Seemandhra regions, which will form the residual Andhra Pradesh when the state of Telangana is born.

Mr Naidu was born on April 20, 1950 in Naravari Palle in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. He was attracted towards politics at an early age, and joined Youth Congress as a student leader in Chandragiri, near Thirupati. Seen in picture is Mr Naidu with Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti (R) after a meeting to discuss the Polavaram multi-purpose irrigation project issue.

Mr Naidu walks through a crowd of supporters after leaving floral tributes at the Nandamuri Taraka Ramarao memorial following the party's election victory in the state of Andhra Pradesh in Hyderabad on May 17.

With Telangana set to become India's 29th state, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief Chandrasekhar Rao or KCR has declared that he won't allow Seemandhra employees to work for his government. The Seemandhra regions has been bitterly opposed to the split. Seen in picture is Mr Naidu addressing a rally during a day long protest in support of farmers in Hyderabad, in 2012.