Southern Andhra Pradesh state's chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, a key ally of the ruling BJP-led coalition, lost to his opposition Congress rival, who accused the laptop-toting official of ignoring his mainly rural electorate.

Also suffering a resounding defeat was Karnataka state's chief minister, Congress party official SM Krishna, who lost badly despite turning the state's city of Bangalore into an international information technology bastion.

The two states held polls parallel to national elections that led to the shock defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition by Congress and its allies.

"Krishna program terminated," said the leading Times of India daily of . "What rocked the boat for Krishna is that his governance failed to reach rural courtyards akin to the humbling of his tech-savvy counterpart (Naidu)."

Both states have been suffering a severe drought for three years and in Karnataka alone over 90 farmers hit by spiralling debt committed suicide last year. Two dozen farmers in Andhra Pradesh took their lives during the same period.

Analysts said both leaders focused on their state's urban areas and improving technology at the expense of agriculture, which accounts for the livelihood of over 60 percent of India's one billion people.

"There was a hype created by Naidu that the state was progressing due to IT," said Narasimha Reddy, economics professor at Hyderabad University in the Andhra Pradesh capital.

"During his nine years of rule, the farm sector fell into serious crisis. There were many suicides as crops failed and farmer debts mounted. The same happened in the handloom sector, the state's second largest employer," he said.

"Andhra Pradesh's economic growth is far less than the eight percent national average and it's not a surprise Naidu lost," he added.

Naidu promoted setting up Internet kiosks throughout Andhra Pradesh and held videoconferences with villagers and officials once a week.

He sold Hyderabad -- nicknamed Cyderabad -- as the best destination for software firms and persuaded Microsoft chairman Bill Gates to set up its only development centre outside the United States in the state.

Vinod Vyasulu, head of the Centre for Policy Studies, said most of farmers and rural poor did not reap the benefits of technology.

"I want to know if any poor people used the IT kiosks set up by Naidu," Vyasulu said. "The same is true of Bangalore. Karnataka is a very backward state when you take indicators such as female literacy and health.

"What poor villagers saw was corporations taking home huge profits from Bangalore and Hyderabad. The government could not claim anything from IT. Public transport system, power, roads and water were all ignored," he said.

Over 1,100 global and domestic firms including Dell, Intel, IBM, Cisco, Sun Microsystems, Texas Instruments, Infosys Technologies and Wipro are based in Bangalore and account for about one-quarter of total software exports.

"Poor farmers and villagers were not enamored of Krishna or Naidu," said Suresh Balakrishnan, head of the Public Affairs Centre that studies governance.

"There may be applause from global leaders. But for technology to translate into tangible results on the ground you need a long time. A number of people are unhappy. Both leaders paid the price," he said.

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