Guntur (Andhra Pradesh), June 9 (IANS): Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu Sunday took oath as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh here.
Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan administered the oath to Naidu at Acharya Nagarjuna University near Guntur town in the presence of over two lakh people.
A total of 19 ministers took oath along with Naidu. Two of them - K.E. Krishna Murthy and N. Chinnarajappa - will be deputy chief ministers.
Those who took oath include senior leaders Y. Ramakrishnudu, AAiyanna Patrudu, B. Gopalakrishna Reddy, P. Raghunath Reddy, Ganta Srinivas and Paritala Sunta, widow of slain leader Paritala Ravindra.
The TDP has given two cabinet berths to its ally the Baratiya Janata Party (BJP). K. Srinivas and Manikyala Rao are the representatives from the BJP.
P. Narayana, who runs Narayana group of educational institutions, is the surprised choice as he is not a member of either house of the legislature.
Naidu will be the first chief minister of Andhra Pradesh after carving out of separate Telangana state. The 64-year-old earlier served as the chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh from 1995 to 2004. He was the leader of opposition for nearly a decade.
TDP bagged 102 seats in 175-member Andhra Pradesh assembly. Its ally BJP won four seats.
Immediately after taking oath, Naidu signed five files to fulfill his promises. He announced setting up of a committee to work modalities for waiver of loans of farmers, women self-help groups and weavers.
A galaxy of national and regional leaders were present at the public ceremony. Senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi and leaders of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners attended the sewring-in.
Chief ministers of six states also turned up to congratulate Naidu.
BJP president and union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal were among the prominent leaders who addressed the gathering.
BJP leaders Murli Manohar Joshi, union ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu, Ananth Kumar, Kalraj Mishra, Harsh Vardhan, Prakash Javadekar, Piyush Goel, Nirmala Sitharaman,Rajya Sabha deputy chairman P.J. Kurien, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel and Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio attended the swearing-in.
Shiv Sena leader Udhav Thackeray, MDMK leader Vaiko, AIADMK leader and Tamil Nadu minister R. Vidyalingam were also present.
Film actor Pawan Kalyan, who campaigned for the NDA, was present along with another actor and TDP leader N. Balakrishna. Junior NTR, the grandson of TDP founder NTR, and other family members also graced the occasion.
TDP supporters celebrated the occasion by bursting firecrackers.
There was utter chaos at the venue, with police repeatedly using force to control the crowd.