Andhra Pradesh (1956–2014)

• 
  Potti Sreeramulu, whose fast unto death in 1952 led to the formation of Andhra State
• 
  Nagarjuna Sagar Dam (completed in 1967)
• 
  NT Rama Rao, a film actor, who became chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in 1983
• 
  Mee Seva office (initial launch of the E-Seva Project in 2001)

In an effort to gain an independent state based on linguistic identity and to protect the interests of the Telugu-speaking people of Madras State, Potti Sreeramulu fasted to death in 1952. As the city of Madras became a bone of contention, in 1949 a committee with Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, and Pattabhi Sitaramayya was constituted. The committee recommended that Andhra State could be formed provided the Andhras gave up their claim on the city of Madras (now Chennai). After Potti Sreeramulu's death, the Telugu-speaking area of Andhra State was carved out of Madras State on 1 October 1953, with Kurnool as its capital city. Tanguturi Prakasam became the first chief minister. On the basis of the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1956, the States Reorganisation Act created Andhra Pradesh by merging the neighbouring Telugu-speaking areas of the Hyderabad State with Hyderabad as the capital on 1 November 1956.[8]

The Indian National Congress (INC) ruled the state from 1956 to 1982. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy became the first chief minister. Among other chief ministers, P. V. Narasimha Rao is known for implementing land reforms and land ceiling acts and securing reservation for lower castes in politics.[9] Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, completed in 1967, and Srisailam Dam, completed in 1981, are some of the irrigation projects that helped increase the production of paddy in the state.[10]

In 1983, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) won the state elections, and N. T. Rama Rao became the chief minister of the state for the first time after launching his party just nine months earlier.[11] This broke the long-time single-party monopoly enjoyed by the INC. He transformed the sub-district administration by forming mandals in place of earlier taluks, removing hereditary village heads, and appointing non-hereditary village revenue assistants.[12] The 1989 elections ended the rule of Rao, with the INC returning to power with Marri Chenna Reddy at the helm. In 1994, Andhra Pradesh gave a mandate to the Telugu Desam Party again, and Rao became the chief minister again. Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Rao's son-in-law, came to power in 1995 with the backing of a majority of the MLAs. The Telugu Desam Party won both the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in 1999 under the leadership of Chandrababu Naidu. Thus, Naidu held the record for the longest-serving chief minister (1995–2004) of the united Andhra Pradesh.[13] He introduced e-governance by launching e-Seva centres in 2001 for paperless and speedy delivery of government services. He is credited with transforming Hyderabad into an IT hub by providing incentives for tech companies to set up centres.[14]

In 2004, Congress returned to power with a new chief ministerial face, YS Rajashekara Reddy, better known as YSR. The main emphasis during Reddy's tenure was on social welfare schemes such as free electricity for farmers, health insurance, tuition fee reimbursement for the poor, and the national rural employment guarantee scheme. He took over the free emergency ambulance service initiated by a corporation and ran it as a government project. INC won the 2009 elections under the leadership of YSR in April.[15] He was elected chief minister again but was killed in a helicopter crash that occurred in September 2009. He was succeeded by Congressmen Konijeti Rosaiah and Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy; the latter resigned over the impending division of the state to form Telangana.[16]

During its 58 years as a unified state, the state weathered separatist movements from Telangana (1969) and Andhra (1972) successfully.[17] A new party called Telangana Rashtra Samithi, formed in April 2001 by Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), reignited the Telanganga movement. A joint action committee formed with political parties, government employees, and the general public spearheaded the agitation. When KCR's health deteriorated due to his fast-unto-death programme, the central government decided to initiate the process to form an independent Telangana in December 2009. This triggered the Samaikyandhra movement to keep the state united. The Srikrishna committee was formed to give recommendations on how to deal with the situation. It gave its report in December 2010.[18] The agitations continued for nearly 5 years, with the Telangana side harping on the marginalisation of food culture, language, and unequal economic development and the Samaikyandhra movement focusing on the shared culture, language, customs, and historical unity of Telugu-speaking regions.[19] The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act bill was passed by the parliament of India for the formation of the Telangana state, comprising ten districts, despite opposition by the state legislature.[20] The bill included the provision to retain Hyderabad as the capital for up to ten years and the provision to ensure access to educational institutions for the same period.[21] The bill received the assent of the president and was published in the gazette on 1 March 2014.[22] The new state of Telangana came into existence on 2 June 2014 after approval from the president of India, with the residual state continuing as Andhra Pradesh.[23] The present form of Andhra Pradesh is the same as that of Andhra State, except for Bhadrachalam town, which continues in Telangana.[24] A number of petitions questioning the validity of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act have been pending before the Supreme Court constitutional bench since April 2014.[25]

In the final elections held in the unified state in 2014, the TDP got a mandate in its favour, defeating its nearest rival, the YSR Congress Party, a breakaway faction of the Congress founded by Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of former Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy. N. Chandrababu Naidu, the chief of the TDP, became the chief minister on 8 June 2014.[26] In 2017, the government of Andhra Pradesh began operating from its new greenfield capital, Amaravati, for which 33,000 acres were acquired from farmers through an innovative land pooling scheme.[27][28] Interstate issues with Telangana relating to the division of assets of public sector institutions and organisations of the united state and the division of river waters are not yet resolved.[29][30]