A cocktail of instability in Congress and the demand for separate Telangana statehood combined to produce a politically-charged situation in Andhra Pradesh through 2010 and promises a lot more in the coming year.
The political chaos that actually began towards the end of 2009 ran through the whole of 2010 and may continue in the new year over the Telangana demand on which the Justice Srikrishna Committee submitted its report yesterday.
While the prime reason for this seemingly prolonged turbulence is the demand for and against the bifurcation of the state, the internal strife in the ruling Congress party has also been a large contributing factor.
The agitations for and against the division of Andhra Pradesh that began in December 2009 and spilled into the first half of 2010 not only paralysed the state administration but also left the main political parties in shambles.
The happenings within the Congress also left Andhra Pradesh in a state of political uncertainty throughout the year as the ruling party failed in many ways than one in managing its own affairs. Governance, as a result, appeared to have become a casualty.
Disarray will only be a mild word to describe the state of Congress as it was forced to replace a "non-effective" Chief Minister (K Rosaiah) on the one hand and to contend with the rebellion caused by Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, the son of late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, on the other.
New Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy is facing a tough challenge from Jagan, who is waiting for the opportune moment to dislodge the state government, though for the record he has promised to let it continue till 2014.
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Jagan's first rebellious act was embarking on the 'Odarpu' Yatra for consoling families of persons who died of shock or committed suicide following his father's death.
In fact, he used the controversial yatra for a show of strength and building a base for himself across the state, particularly in the Andhra-Rayalaseema regions.
The response to his road shows proved that Jagan not only succeeded in his plans but also compounded the woes of the beleaguered Congress.
By already attracting close to 30 MLAs, half-a-dozen MLCs and about five Lok Sabha MPs of Congress to his side, upon his exit from the party, Jagan has already sounded the warning bell for the Kiran Kumar government.
Come 2011, Jagan will launch his own political outfit with the main objective of decimating the Congress, which he quit in December. He may be keen on attracting the "fence-sitters" in the Congress jump on to his bandwagon, endangering the survival of the Kiran government.