When a state and the Centre pull in the same direction, ordinary people feel it first, in their kitchens, in their fields, and in their children’s school bags. Two years into the TDP-led NDA government in Andhra Pradesh, that is precisely what is happening.
The question worth asking at this juncture is not whether the alliance has survived, but whether it has delivered. On that count, the evidence from Andhra Pradesh is substantive and deserves serious examination.
The NDA government under Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, raised the monthly pension from Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000, covering the elderly, widowed, disabled, weavers, and fisherfolk. As of date, 62.6 lakh beneficiaries have received Rs 60,437 crore in 20 months.
Under the Thalliki Vandanam scheme, Rs 15,000 per year was credited directly into the mother’s bank account before the academic year begins. Over 43 lakh mothers and 67 lakh students have benefited. For farmers, Annadata Sukhibhava combines Rs 14,000 from the state with Rs 6,000 from PM Kisan, delivering Rs 20,000 per year directly into accounts. A total of Rs 6,310 crore has reached 46 lakh farmers so far.
The Deepam 2.0 scheme has distributed 2 crore free LPG cylinders worth Rs 2,684 crore. Stree Shakti has enabled 2.62 crore women to travel free across five bus categories, with 25 crore journeys availed as of December 2025.
Amaravati’s revival is the most visible signal. The previous government suspended the capital city project, stranding thousands of farmers who had given their land in good faith.
The Centre has put substantial financial weight behind Amaravati’s revival with a substantial allocation. Its completion matters not only as a civic and investment project but as a statement to every farmer who sees it as the “people’s capital”, built on voluntary participation.
Polavaram is the second test case. AP’s most consequential infrastructure project, capable of irrigating 4.3 lakh acres and supplying drinking water to 28 lakh households. The project is moving. Railway investment in AP stands at Rs 9,417 crore for 2025–26 alone, an eleven-fold increase from the UPA era, with Rs 84,559 crore in total ongoing sanctioned projects. The South Coast Railway Zone, headquartered in Visakhapatnam and the Dugarajapatnam port development are not announcements pending action; they are under execution.
On industry, Andhra Pradesh has attracted Rs 23 lakh crore in investment proposals over the last 23 months. More tellingly, as the Chief Minister noted, that in FY 2025–26, the state alone accounted for 25% of all FDI inflows into India. ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel, Google, Adani, Airtel, and Reliance are among those with commitments on the table, with 282 projects worth Rs 11.47 lakh crore approved at the State Investment Promotion Board meetings and 114 already at the implementation stage.
In Palnadu, the district I represent, the long-stalled Varikapudisela Lift Irrigation Project has been revived with the Chief Minister’s personal assurance of speedy completion.
It will irrigate 1.25 lakh acres and deliver clean water to nearly one lakh people in one of the state’s most drought-prone districts. The Rs 1,200 crore Palnadu Water Grid, an initiative I have pressed both the State and the Centre to prioritise over the years, has now been expedited and, once complete, will address the region’s long-standing fluoride contamination and deliver safe water to every household. The turnaround is not Palnadu’s alone.
Andhra Pradesh itself had been flagged among India’s weakest performers on rural tap water coverage between 2019 and 2024 under the Jal Jeevan Mission; the most recent national assessments, in 2024–25 and early 2026, place the state among those reporting over 97% household tap connectivity, one of the sharpest reversals recorded anywhere in the country.
The Vadarevu–Piduguralla four-lane corridor is connecting farmers to markets. Macherla has received Rs 50 crore for civic infrastructure. The Medical College at Piduguralla means that specialist care, previously hours away, is coming closer to home. These are not large numbers by national standards. For Palnadu, they were long overdue, a start, not a summary. The momentum is only building.
Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu,MP (Narsaraopet), Floor Leader of the Telugu Desam Party in the Lok Sabha