2009 has been the worst year in the history of Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh was plagued by worst news one after the other in 2009. The year has seen the state go through some of the worst turmoil in recent times.

There has been rarely a more disastrous, sad and heartrending year for Andhra Pradesh than 2009. The year began with one scandal and ended with another disgrace and was punctuated by several calamities in between.

It started in the second week of the year with Satyam Computers, an iconic symbol of Telegu pride, crumbled as its founder chairman B Ramalinga Raju stunned the entire country by admitting to perpetrating one of the biggest financial scams worth 8000 crores.

September proved to be the beginning of a tragic phase in the state's history. It was on the stormy morning of September 2 that chopper carrying Reddy, went missing while flying from Hyderabad to Chittoor. It had crashed in the dense Nallamalla forest in Kurnool district and heavy rains and inclement weather made search operations impossible.

77-year-old veteran Ken Rosaiah took over as the chief minister as the Congress suddenly became a rudderless ship. Group rivalries resurfaced as a majority demanded the anointment of YSR's son Jaganmohan Reddy as CM. Both the party and the state suffered collateral damage due to the political uncertainty. However, the high command chose to ignore the campaign in favour of Jaganmohan and Rosaiah continued as CM.

The second disaster struck exactly in a month's time as the unprecedented rains and floods wrought misery and pain, never seen before. Millions were rendered homeless, throwing life out of gear in several districts as the state suffered huge losses.

The districts of Mahbubnagar, Kurnool, Krishna and Guntur are yet to recover from the shock, trauma and losses and many displaced families are still languishing in temporary huts and tents, months after the flood waters receeded.

As KCR's fast unto death starting from November 29 fueled the anger among the youth, the Separate Telangana movement in to a people's uprising of sorts. For the first time in the five decade long history of struggle for Telangana, the central government gave a clean and categorical assurance.

The announcement of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram that the Centre was going to initiate the process for the formation of Telangana state, the anger turned in to joy and celebrations and the Telangana youth hailed it as "second freedom".

But as Telangana returned to peace, fires of protest and anger erupted in the other two regions of Andhra and Rayala Seema in opposition to Telangana and continued till the second statement of Chidambaram saying the Centre will hold wide range discussions with all the parties on Telangana.

It was again the turn for Telangana to rise in protest.

The Congress, Telugu Desam Party and Praja Rajyam Party, who had committed themselves to Telangana state, now stand divided on the issue.

Politics in Andhra hit a new low, when a television channel went to town with photos and claims of a sex scandal in the state Raj Bhavan.

As ABN channel claimed that the man with three women in the photos was the Andhra Pradesh Governor ND Tiwari, the Centre forced 86-year-old politician to pack up and leave.

After a year, which has seen the state go through one its worst phases, the people are praying that 2010 should not be a repeat of 2009.