Andhra Pradesh chief minister-elect Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, invited by the governor on Saturday to form the state government, is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Sunday.

A stance the YSR Congress leader had taken during the election campaign assumes significance ahead of his meeting with Modi: he had offered to support whichever dispensation at the Centre promised special category status for Andhra Pradesh.

A Raj Bhavan communiqué said governor E.S.L.

Narasimhan had invited Jagan to form the next government and that the swearing-in would be held in Vijayawada on Thursday.

Earlier in the afternoon, Jagan had met the governor in Hyderabad and staked claim to form the government after the YSR Congress legislature party unanimously elected him as its leader in Vijayawada.

After meeting the governor, Jagan had called on Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao at his official residence in Hyderabad. Sources said Jagan would spend the night at Rao’s home.

Jagan had earlier thanked his MLAs for electing him their leader. “In 2019, people voted for us out of faith and belief; in 2024 they should give us a bigger mandate because of our performance,” he said.

He sought the MLAs’ support to help him earn the tag of “performing chief minister” within a year, a party lawmaker said.

Jagan, son of late Congress chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has led his party to 151 of the state’s 175 Assembly seats. The Telugu Desam Party of outgoing chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu won 23 seats and the Janasena Party bagged the remaining one. The YSR Congress won 22 of the state’s 25 Lok Sabha seats, restricting the Desam to 3 seats.

Jagan stressed the need to raise the state’s demands in Parliament by the party’s Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha members.