The political crisis on Telangana has not only rocked Congress and TDP with their MPs and MlAs resigning in protest over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, but its impact was also felt in States like West Bengal and Assam where the Army staged a flag march after violent protests broke out in support of smaller States.
At least 12 Members of Parliament from Congress and Telugu Desam Party, hailing from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions tendered their resignations on Friday to protest against the UPA’s decision to form Telangana. More than 60 MlAs of different parties and three State Ministers have already resigned.
Though Union Ministers from the two regions had also threatened to quit, the Congress has convinced them not to resign. They are planning to meet the top Congress leadership to convince them to reconsider the status of Hyderabad.
The Congress MPs who submitted their resignations included lok Sabha members l Rajagopal, V Arun Kumar, CV Harsha Kumar, Sai Prathap, SP Reddy, A Venkatarami Reddy and Rajya Sabha member KVP Ramachandra Rao.
The TDP MPs include M Venugopala Reddy, Nimmala Kistappa, K Narayana, CM Ramesh and Y Choudhary. They submitted their resignations to lok Sabha secretary-general TK Viswanathan and have sought an appointment from the lok Sabha Speaker to complete the formality.
These MPs said that they were quitting to reflect the public anger over the decision to bifurcate the State and demanded that the decision should be withdrawn.
Reddy criticised the Centre for deciding to divide the State without giving any clarifications on the status of Hyderabad and sharing of river waters. Harsha Kumar ruled out taking back his resignation saying that it was a very painful decision taken to reflect the people’s opinion. Since resignations have been given in proper format and addressed to the proper authority it will not be rejected, he claimed.
However, Congress spokesman Bhakta Charan Das said that party General Secretary Digvijay Singh is holding consultations and trying to convince them to take back their resignations.
Union Minister D Purandeswari, whose husband Venkateshwara Rao had quit the Assembly on Thursday, said that Digvijay assured that a high level committee will be constituted to address the concerns and issues raised by the people of the region.
Another Minister Krupa Rani expressed confidence that every thing will work out fine and there was no reason for the people to get worried. Minister of State for Finance JD Seelam said they were holding deliberations with senior leaders and would meet the Congress President next week to urge her to reconsider the status of Hyderabad which is a bone of contention.
TDP MPs charged the Congress with unilaterally deciding to divide Andhra Pradesh
without discussing the modalities with all concerned. There is no clarity on sharing of river waters, revenue, the new Capital, protection of interests of farmers and youth, creation of job opportunities, etc, they pointed out and said that the Centre should address the concerns of the people in a proper manner.
Two more State Ministers Mahdiar Reddy and Vishwaroop also submitted their resignations to Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy taking the total number of Ministers in the State quitting the Cabinet to three. Yesterday another Minister Gant Srinivas Rao had quit the Cabinet.
Earlier, the political crisis in the State further deepened when 15 TDP MlAs also submitted their resignation. With this the total number of resignations by the MlAs has gone up to 61. Those resigned include 30 MlAs of Congress and 16 of YSRCP.