The Karnataka assembly election results have come on expected lines, as predicted by the exit polls.
It is a hung assembly with Bharatiya Janata Party gaining a clear edge over the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) emerging as the trump card.
The BJP, which has been conquering one state after the other across the country in all corners, has made a big entry into the south by emerging as the single largest party in Karnataka.
Already, the party is ruling Tamil Nadu by proxy – keeping the AIADMK under its thumb and it is moving pawns to gain entry into the Left dominated Kerala.
The question is what its impact is going to be on Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. First let us talk about Telangana.
The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi has been facing a similar situation as that of Siddaramaiah in Karnataka with a silent anti-incumbency wave sweeping the state as an undercurrent.
Though the recent Rythu Bandhu scheme is believed to have tilted the scale in favour of the TRS slightly, the party is still on the edge in several constituencies because of the poor performance of the sitting MLAs.
The Congress party, which still enjoys the sympathy of the Telangana people for granting the statehood, is making all out efforts to capitalise on the situation.
A victory for the Congress party in Karnataka would have given a lot of moral strength to the party in Telangana and improved its chances of coming to power.
However, with the BJP gaining an upper hand in Karnataka, the Congress position has become weak. Though the BJP has not been not so strong to aspire for coming into power at least this term, the party got a morale booster with Karnataka results.
It would try to put up a strong fight in 2019, at least to improve its tally. This would ultimately benefit the TRS and as such, Chandrasekhar Rao has the bright chances of coming to power once again.
In Andhra Pradesh, however, the Karnataka elections are a big shock to Telugu Desam Party and its president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
Had the BJP lost the Karnataka polls miserably, there would have been chances of the party dealing cautiously with Naidu.
But now, the BJP will go all out against Naidu, may try to implicate him cases and create troubles to his government by indirectly backing his rivals like YSR Congress party and Jana Sena Party. That would wipe out Naidu’s base in Andhra.
So hard days are ahead for Naidu!
