KCR more searched for on Internet than Chandrababu Naidu
The duo’s popularity in the online world has been on the wane since the bifurcation
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-01-03 07:16 GMT
Hyderabad: A vocal Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has outdone his béte noire, tech savvy Andhra Pradesh counterpart N. Chandrababu Naidu in online popularity charts last year.
However, the duo’s popularity in the online world has been on the wane since the bifurcation of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. Predictably, the duo fall short in comparison to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s popularity.
The two leaders were equally searched over the past couple of years. But, 2014 has been a good one for the Telangana Chief Minister with search interests peaking obviously owing to the bifurcation of the state.
Interestingly, according to Google Trends, which assimilates search trends across the world, online interest in Mr Naidu was also high during May and June last year, when the Telangana state officially came into being.
The trend shows that Mr Rao had reached his peak in December 2009 during his fast unto death for the formation of Telangana after which the UPA government was forced to announce that the process for the formation of Telangana would be initiated.
Rough estimates indicate, he has maintained just about 5 to 6 per cent of the interest in the most searched personalities. The same was true for Mr Naidu with roughly half the interest of his Telangana counterpart.
But, interest in both the charismatic politicians has rapidly waned after June last year, when Telangana came into being. Mr Naidu has more cause for concern as his stock is falling even lower than the TRS supremo.
Mr Rao has managed an occasional spurt in the last six months, but is also falling in search interest though he has managed to stay above Mr Naidu. Interest in MR Rao is mostly restricted to Hyderabad and cities like Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam in AP.
On the other hand, Mr Naidu generates virtual world interest mostly from cities like Nellore, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad. Prime Minister Mr Modi, however, has been much above the two regional leaders in the last one year owing to his election triumphs. His immense popularity is understandable for obvious reasons that he has a pan-India appeal.