YSR: Andhra Pradesh's man of the hour

Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has delivered Andhra Pradesh on a platter for the Congress with 33 Lok Sabha MPs and a simple majority for the party in the state assembly.

YSR had bucked anti-incumbency factor with Andhra Pradesh electing the largest contingent from any state for the party.

Andhra Pradesh was a state where the Congress did not expect to retain its 2004 tally of 29 MPs. But Reddy has proved to be the Congress's man of the match. He has also retained his chief minister's chair in Andhra Pradesh by politically decimating his rivals, Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu and Telugu superstar K Chiranjeevi.

"I don't think the Praja Rajyam presence has helped us in any way,'' YSR said.

"The TRS-TDP arithmetic does not seem to have worked. It worked in a couple of district, not elsewhere,'' YSR pointed out.

The Telugu Desam's defeat in the assembly elections will mean another five years out of power for Chandrababu Naidu. The party also did very poorly in the Lok Sabha elections, winning just 6 seats.

"In the interest of public, along with Left parties and our Third Front partners we are going to work. This is a continous effort, we are going to work in that direction,'' said Chandrababu Naidu.

The biggest flop of the election was Chiranjeevi whose party did not win a single Parliament seat and won just 19 assembly seats. Chiranjeevi himself, while winning Tirupati assembly seat, bite the dust in Palakollu in his home West Godavari district.

When asked whether he sees himself back in films now, he denied that and said his fullest concentration will be on public service only.

The elections also signaled the demise of the Telangana statehood movement. The TRS has been vanquished, a signal that the people of the region desire development more than separatist slogans.