Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has congratulated Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader and former Union Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju on his appointment as the Governor of Goa and termed it a great pride for the people of Andhra Pradesh.
The TDP president took to the social media platform ‘X’ to convey heartiest congratulations to the senior leader.
“This is a moment of great pride for the people of our state. I sincerely thank the Hon’ble President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji, and the Union Cabinet for bestowing upon him this honour,” wrote Chandrababu Naidu.
He wished Ashok Gajapathi Raju “a successful and fulfilling tenure in this esteemed role”.
Human Resources Development and IT Minister Nara Lokesh also congratulated Ashok Gajapathi Raju Garu on being appointed as the Governor of Goa. He thanked President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bestowing this honour on Raju. “I am confident that with his integrity, honesty and utmost commitment to public cause, Raju Garu will bring great dignity to the office of the Governor,” posted Lokesh.
Ashok, scion of the royal family of Vizianagaram, is one of the seniormost leaders of the TDP. The 73-year-old is a member of the TDP politburo, the highest decision-making body of the party. He won six times as MLA on a TDP ticket from the Vizianagaram Assembly segment.
In 2014, he was elected from the Vizianagaram Lok Sabha constituency and was made Civil Aviation Minister. He had to quit in 2018 after TDP pulled out of the NDA government over the delay in granting special status to Andhra Pradesh.
Ashok, however, suffered defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the same constituency.
The TDP did not field Ashok in last year’s election. However, his daughter Aditi Vijayalakshmi Gajapathi Raju was fielded from the Vizianagaram Assembly segment, and she won the seat with a huge majority.
Ashok had continuously represented the Vizianagaram Assembly seat for six terms. He was first elected as a Janata Party candidate. He has been associated with the TDP when it was floated by actor-turned-politician N.T. Rama Rao in 1982.
He served as a minister in Chandrababu Naidu-led government in undivided Andhra Pradesh and held key portfolios like Finance, Revenue and Legislative Affairs.
(IANS)
