ANDHRA PRADESH Political

Andhra Pradesh plunged into a fresh political crisis on Thursday with 60 MLAs and a MP belonging to Congress, TDP and PRP from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions resigning in protest against the Centre's decision to carve out a separate Telangana state.

The legislators submitted their resignation to Assembly Speaker Kiran Kumar Reddy, a day after the Centre announced that steps will be initiated for the formation of Telangana state.

However, there was no word from the Speaker's office about acceptance of their resignations.

Thirty-two of the MLAs who have resigned are from Congress, 17 from the Telugu Desam Party and nine from the Praja Rajyam Party. In New Delhi, Congress MP from Vijayawada Lagadapati Rajagopal submitted his resignation to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.

As reports emerged that more MPs from the Andhra region are planning to resign to register their protest, Congress President Sonia Gandhi convened a meeting of party MPs from the state to discuss the issue in New Delhi.

The MLAs have strongly decried the Congress high command's "unilateral decision" to initiate the process for bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. "This decision is very painful for us.

Lakhs of people from other regions of the state have come to Hyderabad in search of livelihood. What would be their fate if the state is split," P Venkatramaya, a Congress legislator from Krishna district, said in the Assembly.

Strongly criticising the Centre and Sonia Gandhi for the decision on Telangana, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu accused them of taking such a step without taking into confidence the Opposition parties and other stakeholders.

While Telangana accounts for 119 seats out of the 294 assembly seats and 17 Lok Sabha segments, the rest of Andhra Pradesh has 175 assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies.

Of the 158 Congress MLAs, 51 are from the Telangana region and 107 are from the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.

Telugu Desam MLA P Raghunatha Reddy said that they resigned from their posts as the Congress took a unilateral decision to move a motion in the state assembly for the formation of Telangana State.

In New Delhi, another Congress MP Anantha Venkatarami Reddy threatened to resign in protest against the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.

In Parliament, Home Minister P Chidambaram said he had spoken to TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, who on Wednesday night ended his 11-day-old fast-unto-death after the Centre's decision, and that he has invited him for talks.