With Prajakutami losing in Telangana and TRS winning a majority, there has been speculation that this could have an impact on the 2019 Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh. Some of the reasons why Telangana polls may not impact AP:
* Caste cohesion and influence: Unlike in Telangana where there caste fanaticism is less or negligible, Andhra Pradesh voters are caste-obsessed. Caste plays a crucial role for them in the assembly elections and choose political parties based on their caste.
* Future of AP at stake: The most pressing issue for voters of AP in 2019 will be the development of the state and its future. After bifurcation, it is a well-known fact that AP got a raw deal with a massive deficit budget, lack of capital city and liabilities while Telangana got revenue-generating Hyderabad and assets. Therefore, given the current political options at their disposal in AP, this factor could play a huge role.
* Political landscape: Unlike in Telangana where TRS rules the roost with Telangana sentiment, controls the media indirectly and is authoritative in its approach, this doesn’t work in Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, along with TDP, there is the Opposition party – YSR Congress, Jana Sena Party, BJP and the Congress. Therefore, the political choices of voters too are split. In AP, the sentiment is missing due to a stronger influence of caste.
Therefore, the electorate and the problems that Andhra Pradesh is facing are much different from those compared to Telangana. The base infrastructure and the capital city construction is just beginning to increase, revenue-generating sources are minimum and it needs to create more investment opportunities and attract investors into the state. Hence, the impact of Telangana elections could be considered negligible in AP as the demography is different and there is still 5 months to go!