It is difficult to not to think about turmoil going in Andhra Pradesh with demand of separate Telangana state by KCR. As a person from Nellore district in AP I have always envied that development always takes place at Hyderabad and not in other places like my home district. In post independent era in India lots of investment both private and government have taken place in Hyderabad due to its strategic importance (its central location away from hostile borders). Due to this importance Hyderabad flourished as important base for various government, defence and educational establishments. Successive state governments pumped lots of money to develop Hyderabad region and ignored other regions including cities like Vijayawada. Also successive governments championed Hyderabad to become a investor haven for private companies (Like Naidu wanting to turn Hyderabad into something similar to Singapore). This extra investment brings increased opportunities in terms of education and jobs to Hyderabad residents. This was especially evident during my medical entrance examination in 1996; I felt students from Telangana had unfair advantage because of quota system as Telangana including Hyderabad had more medical seats compared to Rayalaseema region which I was competing. This is just one example. There is also anguish among the people living in Telangana that same corrupt politicians who developed Hyderabad did not adequately improve living condition of people in other parts of Telangana. There is similar situation in Rayalaseema and parts of Andhra region.
Since the start of Telangana movement I always had neutral feelings about separation with some anxiety of loss of Hyderabad which for decades was jointly developed by all people. But now I am of opinion that may be separation is a good idea. Firstly It will jump start investment in other areas apart from Hyderabad. Andhra region has slight advantage because of its proximity to sea routes. This is especially important as India is trying to move away from its image as an agriculture economy to industrial and service based economy. Also bigger state means that there is lot of administrative hassle compared to two small states.
