Telangana Congress, TDP leaders decide to resign

A day after their deadline to the Congress to take a decision on Telangana expired on June 30, Congress Ministers, MPS and MLAs from the region on Friday announced they would resign en masse on July 4 to put pressure on the party leadership.

Soon after, Telugu Desam Party MLAs from the region too said they would put in their papers after holding a meeting on June 3.

Led by Panchayat Raj Minister K. Jana Reddy, Congress leaders from Telangana met at the Exhibition Grounds here to discuss their future course of action.

Mr. Jana Reddy told journalists that resignations were the only way out in the absence of any forward movement on the creation of a Telangana State. He, however, made it clear that all of them would remain in the party.

Their decision comes two days after Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao made a surprise call on Mr. Jana Reddy and impressed upon him the need for Congress leaders to mount pressure on the party high command by resigning from their posts. He was reported to have promised his party's help in getting them re-elected.

Of the 51 Congress MLAs from the Telangana region, 26, including nine Ministers, besides seven MPs and eight MLCs, attended Friday's meeting. In the 294-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly, Telangana accounts for 117 seats, of which 35 seats are held by the Telugu Desam Party and 11 by the TRS.

AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was in Hyderabad, appeared unfazed by the resignation threat. He said a decision could not be taken in haste as it would have an impact on the entire country, and not just on Andhra Pradesh. The process of consultations to arrive at a consensus was in progress and a decision would be taken at the right time.

The resignation threat is being made for the second time in two years. There were a spate of resignations by MLAs and Ministers after the Centre announced on December 9, 2009 its intention to create a Telangana State. Almost all the resignations were rejected.

The Telangana leaders have resorted to this extreme course of action as they believe that the issue has reached a decisive phase. This follows strong indications from New Delhi that the Congress will end the impasse in the next 40-50 days.

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Repeated adjournments in Parliament on Telangana issue

Parliament today witnessed repeated adjournments following uproar over demands for separate Telangana, an issue which saw members from TRS, BJP and Congress coming together despite their divergent political leanings.

Both Houses of Parliament were rocked by the demand as soon as they met for the day.

In the Lok Sabha, TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao and his colleague M Vijayashanti rushed to the Well, chanting ‘Jai Telangana’ and ‘We want Telangana’. They were supported by BJP members.

A section of Congress members from Andhra Pradesh too were seen in the aisle raising slogans for a separate Telangana, while TDP members were seen waving placards favouring ‘United Andhra Pradesh’.

A Congress member went across to the TDP members and snatched the placard and joined his protesting colleagues.

Speaker Meira Kumar repeatedly pleaded with the agitated members to allow the Question Hour to continue, but when they did not relent, she adjourned the House till noon.

Same scenes were repeated when the House re-assembled.

The Speaker requested the members to let the House function and allow taking up debate on the Railway Budget but the pleas went unheeded.

Amidst the din, Shahnawaz Hussain (BJP) raised the issue of the Supreme Court verdict on CVC and said the matter should be taken up in the House considering its serious nature. He was supported by his party members.

In view of the uproar, the Speaker adjourned the House for 30 minutes.

When the House met again at 12.30 PM, TRS members and some from Congress were again on their feet. Mr. Rao and Ms. Vijayshanti were again in the Well.

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