Who is TDP's Vangalapudi Anitha? Meet youngest member of Chandrababu Naidu's cabinet

Aged 40, a woman Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader has won the distinction of being the youngest minister in the new Andhra Pradesh cabinet. She is Anitha Vangalapudi, younger to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's son Nara Lokesh by a year, and the representative of the Payakaraopet constituency in the Assembly.

Vangalapudi Anitha, who was handed the Home Affairs and Disaster Management portfolios on Friday, is a member of the TDP politburo. Born in 1984 in Lingarajupalem village of erstwhile Visakhapatnam district, Anitha became a school teacher like her father after formal education. After completing a M.SC through correspondence she received her M.Ed. from Ambedkar Open University, The New Indian Express said in a report.

Vangalapudi Anitha taught children for over 11 years, before resigning at the age of 34 to join politics, reports said. It was her good oratory skills that helped to garner Chandrababu Naidu's attention, they added.

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In 2021, Anitha became a member of the TDP politburo after being elected the president of the Andhra Pradesh Telugu Mahila -- the women's wing of the TDP.

By then, Anitha had tasted both victory and defeat in Parliamentary politics. After winning from Payakaraopet in 2014 against turncoat Chengala Venkata Rao by a margin of 2,828 votes, Naidu asked her to fend off the Jagan wave in Kovvur seat. She was humbled by YSRCP's T Vanita by a margin of 25,248 votes. 

When the BJP-Jana Sena-BJP tie-up decided to join forces in Andhra Pradesh ahead of the 2024 elections, Vangalapudi Anitha was once again pitted from Payakaraopet. She thumped by polling 1,20,042 votes against nearest rival Jogulu Kambala's tally of 76,315 -- winning by 43,727.

Interestingly,  Anitha is reportedly the only minister in the TDP cabinet from the 15 Assembly segments in the combined Visakhapatnam district.