Obviously, farmers who have benefited from schemes, pensioners in rural pockets who receive their fixed Rs.2,200 and even women who are financially independent through employment schemes now feel orphaned or insecure,' Brahman, who has been chronicling YSR's policies for some years, added.

A large number of nearly 70 people who died of shock included young supporters of YSR and the beneficiaries of the various welfare schemes launched by him in the last five years. The deaths were reported from 19 out of 23 districts in the state.

According to Malla Reddy, a leader of the Andhra Pradesh Railu Sangam, a farmer's collective, people loved YSR 'very much'.

'Some poor farmers are apprehensive of the fate of free power and medicare. There are others who have benefited immensely through subsidised housing and pension schemes. They are bound to get worried and have taken the extreme step,' he said.

'I won't be surprised if the death toll goes up.'

In Reddy's view, this was another way for people at the lowest rungs of the social and economic hierarchy to draw attention of the political class to their plight.

Anand Kumar of the sociology department in the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi gives a different spin.

'This expression of frustration and disappointment where people have taken their lives or died of shock is extremely rare in India and not witnessed especially in politics,' he said.

'These people have been beneficiaries of his schemes and put all their eggs in a basket called YSR.'