Nadendla Bhaskara Rao - Short-lived CM

Short-lived CM

After one and half years of the TDP’s rule the main opposition party, Outers pulled a coup on the NTR government in August 1984. Congress (I) gave support to Bhaskara Rao's group within TDP at a time when NTR was away in the US to undergo a heart surgery. Since Congress was in power at the center and their nominee occupied the AP Governor's post, Bhaskara Rao became CM of Andhra Pradesh.

At a national level, seventeen opposition parties, including the CPI, CPI(M), BJP and the Janata criticised this move and launched a ‘Save democracy movement’, leading to massive anti-Centre protest against the dismissal of the TDP government. NTR returned from US, wore black clothes and launched a state-wide yathra to protest the dismissal of his government. He called it a dharma yuddham (a war for justice), a war against the authoritarian and autocratic rule at the Centre, for restoration of democracy and safeguarding the Constitution. The central government, recalled the governor and reinstalled NTR as CM – the only instance in political history of India when a dismissed CM was reinstated.

Bhaskara Rao left TDP and joined Congress (I) along with his supporters. His reign as AP CM lasted 31 days.