In an interview with The Hindu, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had expressed apprehension over Andhra Pradesh’s financial situation, which he said went beyond the special category status demand. Two years on, how do you view the situation?

We inherited a State with a lot of debt. The previous administration couldn’t even pay salaries on time. The entire economic engine had stalled. We have been able to restart that and restore investor confidence. Nearly 25% of India’s investments have come to our State. That’s what is setting us apart, and that’s how we have been able to record growth in our tax collection. But that’s not enough. We are well on our way to executing all the projects we have signed.

We have covered some of your social media exchanges with Industry Ministers from other southern States over competition for investments. Do such things come in the way of a broader solidarity on issues such as delimitation?

Competition is good. I think States should compete; only then will India win. The speed of doing business is one of our poll promises, and we are delivering on it. That’s why we received investments from Google, ArcelorMittal, and Royal Enfield, as well as for the AMCA (advanced medium combat aircraft) programme. Every State gets investments as per its strategy, so I don’t see any bitterness there. On the question of issue-based discussion, I think fundamentally it’s very unfair to create this north-south divide. In our conversations in the NDA (National Democratic Alliance), we never had the sense that there would be injustice to the South. Based on our conversations, it was very clear that proportional representation would be maintained.

But it was not spelt out in the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026.

I agree. But the Home Minister [Amit Shah] made it very clear on the floor of the House that if required, an amendment could be brought in. But politics drove the whole debate. There’s a larger issue at play.

What the other political parties have actually done is a grave injustice to the South, because if you look at Article 81 [which governs the composition and structure of the Lok Sabha], it clearly stipulates that the number of Lok Sabha seats of States will be proportional to their population. Due to the defeat of the Bill, which was based on the last [2011] Census, the States’ representation in the Lower House will now be based on the next Census, which would place the South at a disadvantage. Tamil Nadu and Kerala will lose about seven seats, Andhra Pradesh will lose about three, and Telangana will lose one. So it is imperative that we actually get a delimitation Bill and amend that.

Your government has announced incentives and urged people to have more than three children. Empirically, such measures to boost population have not worked in other countries.

Andhra Pradesh today has a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 1.5, below the replacement rate of 2.1. We are not mandating that families should have more children, but pointing out that it’s important to have this conversation. We feel it is the right approach to create a mechanism that supports families that choose to have more children. So as the Chief Minister has already announced, at birth, there’s a direct benefit transfer (DBT) programme, and already in Andhra Pradesh, from Classes 1 to 12, for the number of children that you have, there’s already a functional DBT scheme. That was our marquee promise before the 2024 election. We believe the TFR will continue to decline before it gets any better. Therefore, I think it’s important to have this debate. As far as delimitation is concerned, we are very clear that whatever the South’s current proportion is, it will be maintained.

Have there been conversations between the TDP and its allies after the special session of Parliament?

Absolutely. Before, during, and after the session. When the Bill was introduced, as I said, I did share my fair share of note-taking and shared my opinions as a member of the NDA, where we debate and discuss within the four walls of the alliance.

You, a millennial, have now formally stepped into the role as the TDP’s working president at a time when India has probably seen its first Gen Z poll in Tamil Nadu. Do you agree with the characterisation, and what changes do you foresee in India’s politics when it comes to the youth?

Fundamentally, political parties have to transform themselves. While our ideology remains the same, in terms of representation and giving voice, incorporating the youth of the State will be critical to the political system.

If you look at what Mr. Naidu has done in his fourth term, 50% of our legislature comprises first-timers from across the social spectrum, from anganwadi workers to journalists.

Almost 17 out of 25 Ministers are first-timers. We are the youngest parliamentary party. So we have very young representation and it’s a continuous process. In terms of messaging, we need to listen. During my padayatra [foot march] in the run-up to the 2024 poll, a common thread emerged: employment. Firing up the economic engines was the mandate the people of Andhra Pradesh gave me; this was followed by a desire to be part of the political process. If you look at our party’s structure and committees, you will see a lot of fresh faces.

Sobhana K. Nair: Andhra Pradesh has reported an increase in school pass percentage from 81% in 2025 to 85% this year. What did you change during this time?

My approach has always been that the government has a very important role to play in school education. The One Class, One Teacher policy has been the biggest push that I’ve made in this direction. When we came into power, only 3% of the government schools had one teacher for each class. We brought in a structural reform where we took that number up to 33%. We recruited 16,000 teachers in 150 days with zero controversy. Additionally, we’ve introduced critical thinking over rote learning in schools. We also revamped the curriculum. I believe we just need to give children a way to harness their energy, to get to 100%. You will be seeing more changes in the government education system, and for sure, we’ll give the private sector a run for its money.

T.C.A. Sharad Raghavan: While the pass percentage is going up, expenditure on education as a percentage of your total budget has been falling, from about 15% in 2019-20 to a little less than 11%. How are you managing with less funds?

Yes, capital expenditure is important, but so are our teachers and the need to motivate them. Rolling out basic structural reforms is what has enabled us. For example, we are one of the very few States to have a Teacher Transfer Act. Teachers no longer have to go to politicians to be transferred. There are points based on their seniority and there’s an online system through which they can apply and get transferred. Promotions are now streamlined and seniority has been fixed. So I have removed the administrative burden on teachers, Mandal Education Officers, and District Education Officers, allowing them to focus more on learning outcomes.

Also, doing bridge courses from, say, fifth to sixth grade, and from ninth to 10th grade, these sorts of micro-interventions have really paid off for us.

A.M. Jigeesh: We have seen protests across the world, particularly in developing countries, against data centres over the intensive use of water and power. In A.P., there are plans for big data centres. How will you address these issues?

What the West doesn’t have, and we do, is One Nation, One Grid. Moreover, the West has not spent sufficiently on the upkeep of its energy infrastructure while India continues to spend on it.

As far as Andhra Pradesh is concerned, along with data centres, we’re also thinking about the AI engine that would power them and how to build the entire ecosystem. Our State today is energy surplus in terms of renewables. We have a 160-gigawatt renewable energy commitment. What does that mean? Solar, wind, and pumped storage projects, which are hydro batteries that we’re going to use. So we can offer renewable energy, which other States cannot. We started the Polavaram project [an under-construction multipurpose irrigation project] so that water can be delivered to Visakhapatnam. If you look at the amount of Godavari river water that goes to the ocean, a drop of it is all we need to harness and meet the energy requirements of the data centres.

A.M. Jigeesh: The removal of import duties on cotton has led to distress among farmers. How are you addressing this issue?

Our conversation with the Union government has been that we need to have a chart where we understand where the exact issue lies with regard to prices and whether to allow imports or not. In Andhra Pradesh, farm income has gone up, different commodities have done well, but there has always been a cycle, of course. Last year we had challenges with the chilli crop, but this year it has done exceptionally well. Similarly, turmeric has done exceptionally well. But for paddy, we want to pivot out of it because the per capita paddy consumption is coming down in the South.

We are also looking at newer commodities where greater value can be added, with farmers getting the lion’s share of that added value. Tariffs have been a challenge as well, but we managed to get all stakeholders together, identified how much of a hit farmers, feed suppliers, and exporters, etc., can take and offered support accordingly. So the impact has been softened even as we managed to open new markets such as Australia.

Varghese K. George: When did you decide to become a politician?

It was in 2004, six months after Mr. Naidu lost the Assembly election. We had gone to a wedding, where close to 5,000 people were present. The moment he entered the venue, they all stood up in respect. I said to myself that no other profession can really give you that kind of recognition if you want to do good and leave a legacy. I was 21 then, and it never occurred to me, even while studying at Stanford University later on, to do anything but public service.

Varghese K. George: What is it about politics that you don’t like?

My concern is that the quality of discourse and exchange is coming down. It was a welcome change to see a sitting Chief Minister calling on his predecessor recently, so that knowledge transfer happens, but Andhra Pradesh politics has become a lot more bitter and very personal, which I don’t stand for.

Today, it’s just sad that the Opposition doesn’t even come to the Assembly. So there’s no real discussion or discourse happening. When Mr. Naidu was in the Opposition between 2019 and 2024, up until the time my mother was insulted on the floor of the House, which is when he vowed not to return till he became the CM, he used to attend regularly and raise people’s issues.

Varghese K. George: In the last few years, allies of the BJP, the JD(U) being the latest example, have seen their power shrink. Has the thought that the BJP might want to be a force in Andhra Pradesh at your expense crossed your mind?

Every political party is entitled to their growth, aspirations, and ambitions. Why should we hold it against a political party? If I am inefficient, if I am unable to capture the imagination of the youth, then I am at fault. And honestly, I have learnt a lot from the BJP.

Could you share examples?

I’ve learnt the power of electioneering. I’ve learnt the approach that they take with regard to their booth management. I created an app called ‘My TDP’, which you could consider the BJP’s app on steroids. In it, we have news, of course, but we also identify performers from the field and create a mechanism to incentivise them in a very transparent process. So I am tracking nearly 1,10,000 party members.

Sreeparna Chakrabarty: As a regional party, do you have any concerns with the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls?

The Election Commission sought opinions from all political parties on the issue, and we’ve shared ours with them. If you look at data, even in States where there are BJP governments, nearly 10-12% of the votes have been cleaned up. And it’s happened across the nation. Even in States where the Congress won, SIR did happen. So it’s wrong to read all sorts of things into it. Electoral rolls need revision, and the TDP, as a political party, has understood the role of electoral rolls from day one. That is why there is a system called ‘Cluster Unit Booth’ within the TDP. Once the voter list gets published, we have a mechanism to digitise it, send it to our booth agents, who review it and share their views. I’ve been tracking voter lists since 2004. All the digital voter lists are there, so we know how demography is changing, where it is that votes are getting deleted, and if a voter’s name is deleted, we go to their house and ensure they are being enrolled.