Andhra and Telangana are in fact two major areas in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. Andhra Pradesh is the fifth largest state in India in terms of population. The prime difference between Andhra and Telangana is that the region along the coast of the state is called Andhra whereas the region on the northern part of the state is called Telangana.
It can be said that the region of Andhra is the second longest coastline in the whole of the country. It spans 972 km. It is interesting to note that the capital of the state of Andhra Pradesh, namely, Hyderabad lies in the Telangana region of the state.
Telangana contains 10 districts including the capital city Hyderabad. As a matter of fact the people of the region of Telangana did not support the idea of both the regions of Andhra and Telangana coming together. They opposed it totally.
Although Nizam wanted Hyderabad to be independent, it was later divided into 22 districts. Telengana was given 9 districts and Andhra took the remaining. At that time Andhra was known by the name of Madras Presidency. It was only in the year 1956 that all the districts were united into a single state. Although the region of Andhra did not oppose the unification, the people of Telangana did not like it.
River Krishna geographically divides the state of Andhra Pradesh into two major regions called Telangana and Rayalaseema. The latter is the southern part whereas the former is the northern part. The coastline is occupied of course by Andhra.
Hence Telangana lies on the north of river Krishna and is characterized by the presence of a district called Kothagoodem that is rich in the production of coal. On the other hand Andhra is characterized by the presence of a district called Guntur that is considered one of the commercial centers in Andhra Pradesh and is rich in the production of cotton and chili.
The famous Telangana agitation took place in the year 1969. The people demanded a separate state for them. It failed then and in the year 1990 a bid to offer the status of a separate state to Telangana again failed.
Telangana has 9 districts other than Hyderabad and all of them were declared backward districts by the Central Government. While Telangana has no ports, the region of Andhra boasts two major ports called Visakhapatnam and Kakinada.
One of the main differences between Andhra and Telangana is that Andhra has the smaller area whereas Telangana has the largest area in the state of Andhra Pradesh. It is interesting to note that four major rivers flow in Telangana. They are Krishna, Godavari, Tungabhadra and Penna.