Naidu's Telugu Desam Party Tuesday suffered a crushing defeat in the state elections held in southern Andhra Pradesh. Congress Party ended Naidu's nine-year reign by winning 226 seats in the 294-seat assembly. The TDP managed only 47 seats.

Naidu's defeat not only dampened the mood in the country's booming information technology sector, but its shivers were felt in the spine of the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Naidu, 54, is not a quintessential politician. In a country where many politicians cannot even spell the word computer, Naidu would hold video chat with his officers spanned all over the state of 75 million people.

Unlike a traditional politician, his favorite tool was not a microphone but a laptop. He would not churn out fake promises to his people, but his speeches were loaded with power point presentation.

Naidu would refer to himself as the chief executive officer of the state and his constituents as the state's stakeholders. He was always cited as the poster boy of IT sector.

He brought Andhra Pradesh on the IT map of the world and courted leaders like Bill Clinton and Bill Gates. Andhra Pradesh capital Hyderabad is known as Cyberabad due to the presence of such top corporations as Microsoft, Oracle, Dell, Computer Associates and Google.

India media on Wednesday said Naidu's cyber fixation cost him his job because he ignored the dreams of people hit by poverty, starvation and severe drought.

Not many of the world's politicians are given more room in newspaper editorials when voters reject them.

Using information technology puns, newspapers across India had a field day, using eight column banners to announce Naidu's exit.

"System failure: Cyber CM logged out," The Hindustan Times said in a headline. An accompanying cartoon portrayed a fuming Naidu looking at a laptop screen that said "Access Denied."

"Naidu," said The Indian Express pasting an image of a computer's Delete key in the headline. The Pioneer daily said: "Stakeholders sack Andhra CEO."

In an editorial titled "Andhra's loss," Pioneer said: "When a role model chief minister is rejected by the electorate it is not an occasion for rejoicing, save from his adversaries." The daily said Naidu's removal was a protest vote, not a mandate against his vision.

"Reform's blue-eyed boy has been made to bite the dust," Hindustan Times said in an editorial titled "Reboot in Andhra."

"Naidu's defeat ought to be a cautionary tale for all those reformist Cms, especially those who tend to get a little carried away by their media managers."

"Even as the laptop CM (chief minister) was making waves overseas for the glittering IT showcase that Hyderabad had become, it was an altogether different tale in much of rural Andhra Pradesh, stalked as the latter was by starvation deaths and mass debt-induced suicides," The Times of India said in its editorial.

"Real world can be cruel to virtual world dwellers. Cyberbabu found it the hard way," The Economic Times said in an article, adding: "Chandrababu Naidu played CEO with direct, high-tech interaction with district magistrates and superintendents of police but left the people out of the loop by not involving his political party, which would reflect popular aspirations, in governance."

"It is not that he forgot the rural poor. He did his best to deliver development to his people. And that was his undoing," The Times said.

Naidu's downfall not only dampened the spirits of IT sector but also shocked India's political spectrum. The TDP is the biggest ally of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's ruling 22-party National Democratic Alliance.

Exit polls have predicted a hung federal parliament for which vote count will begin Thursday, and results are expected same day.

Stung by Naidu's downfall in state elections, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee remained huddled in closed door meetings with his senior party leaders to woo smaller parties in case his coalition fails to muster 272 lawmakers required to retain power.

It is to be seen if country's 350 million voters have pressed the "Refresh" button for the ruling alliance or they have punched Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

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