Amidst heavy protests, Indian parliament houses adjourned and hopes of the Telangana reorganization bill is low to get approved, according to party sources and leaders in parliament houses. In this context, governing Andhra Pradesh, in the short term, will be an uphill task if the Telangana Bill is blocked in Parliament this week.
Political parties have raised the emotional pitch on both sides of the geographical divide to the point that the 'Us versus Them' syndrome plagues both activists and those working in the state administration alike.
The polarisation will continue to be sharp in the run up to and after the elections. It may lead eventually to the formation of a coalition ministry in Andhra Pradesh with the TRS on one side and the YSR Congress and a TDP-BJP combine as the other partner.
Telangana separatists will step up their campaign during electioneering if the Telangana Bill is not passed.
The TRS, which has spearheaded an agitation of students and other activists since K. Chandrasekhara Rao launched the party in 2000, is poised to be the rallying point in the region.
Even if rival parties seem reluctant to forge an electoral alliance, individual contestants of the Congress, the TDP and the BJP will be forced to arrive at a tacit understanding with the TRS to ensure their victory.
Chandrasekhara Rao's strength is the fact that he took the first step to bring everyone on board after the historic December 9, 2009, announcement by then home minister P. Chidambaram about the UPA's commitment on Telangana.
Though his party is dominant in north Telangana districts, the TRS, in the light of its campaign during the past five years, will win comfortably more than half the 17 Lok Sabha and 119 legislative assembly seats in their 'Promised Land.'
Elsewhere, in the Seemandhra region, the YSR Congress, the TDP and the BJP will then vie to leverage the argument that their efforts contributed the most to stall the Telangana Bill besides riding the wave of a two-term incumbency to ensure the near total rout of the Congress.
Both Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy of the YSR Congress and N. Chandrababu Naidu of the TDP have had a head start for they have travelled extensively in the region canvassing support for their parties.
The BJP has a relatively small following in the region that has swelled in recent months with the growing support for its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
If the TDP and the BJP have an electoral understanding and seat sharing arrangements, their alliance will be locked in a neck-and-neck race with the YSR Congress for both the 25 Lok Sabha and the 175 legislative assembly seats in the Seemandhra region.
But it will be at their own peril in Telangana where the TDP-BJP alliance will not be able to make much headway as it will be perceived as being anti-Telangana once the Bill is blocked.
Beyond the outcome of the General Elections, the constitution of a States Reorganisation Commission will emerge as a priority for the new government though the BJP has said that it will carve Telangana within six months after assuming office.
The demands for smaller states are endemic to several of the larger states and these will turn shrill even as the new government sets in motion its promise on Telangana.
Given that the formation of smaller states is appreciated widely as a policy towards providing more people-friendly and accessible governance, the new government will have to appoint a States Reorganisation Commission that will perhaps spell out the criteria - economic and other factors - that are essential to carve functional and efficient smaller states.
Even if Telangana is conceded by pushing through the Bill this week, it will become imperative for the new government to examine the reorganisation of states to create an enduring federal polity.
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