Chief ministership of N. T. Rama Rao

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (also known as N.T.R) served as Chief Minister of United Andhra Pradesh for four terms, between 1983 and 1995. He was the first person to hold the office while not a member of the Indian National Congress, while representing the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which he himself founded in 1982. Rama Rao's time in office saw his ousting in an August 1984 coup after 1½ years in office, while he was abroad in the US undergoing coronary heart surgery. He was removed by Thakur Ram Lal, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, and replaced with Nadendla Bhaskara Rao, the finance minister. Having come back from surgery, Rama Rao regained his position through demonstrating his majority support from members of the Andhra Legislative Assembly. He returned to office in September 1984.

He was re-elected for a second term in 1985, and served a full term without issue. He lost power, however, in the 1989 assembly elections, and returned in 1994 as chief minister for his third and final term, in alliance with the Left parties. However, in 1995 he was overthrown by his son-in-law Nara Chandrababu Naidu, who took over the TDP, and became Chief Minister. Rama Rao died of a heart attack the following year.

The political priorities of N.T.R during all his three terms as Chief Minister were widely debated, with him receiving criticism from both the left- and right-wing.