Political analysts have begun the hair-splitting exercise to understand YS Jagan’s motive behind the proposal to constitute 26 districts. Ever since the government has issued a draft notification indicating the proposed boundaries for the districts, there has been a debate over who stands to gain and who loses in the whole exercise.

What has now been released is only a draft notification and adequate time has been given for registering objections or proffering suggestions. Then a final draft would be prepared and released. The Jagan government is planning to release the final draft by March-end or during the Ugadi festivities. But, political observers feel that a lot of political thinking has gone into the carving out of the districts.

Though the government has said that it has taken public opinion into consideration while carving out districts, there appears to be lot of political thinking behind the plan. In at least West Godavari, Nellore and Krishna districts, the division of the districts is likely to pose problems for the Telugu Desam Party. For instance Santhanuthalapadu assembly constituency has been attached to Ongole instead of Bapatla. This is likely to impact the demography.

Similarly, Sarvepalli, which is part of the Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency is now part of Nellore district. While geographically it may not have any impact as Sarvepalli is part of Nellore district, it would affect the demography of Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency when the delimitation process is taken up. Sources say the carving of Manyam district and naming it after Alluri Seetharama Raju too has political and electoral motives. The political observers are now trying to understand the logic behind the carving of new districts.