Telangana MPs to quit but ministers stay on
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Hyderabad: Protesting against the Centre's indecisiveness on the Telangana issue, seven Congress MPs from the region decided in principle on Monday to resign from the Lok Sabha.
Before sending their resignations to the Lok Sabha Speaker, the MPs will send their resignation letters to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, asking her to announce a Telangana state immediately.
They debated the issue for more than six hours before deciding to quit.
Elsewhere, ministers from the region asked their "friends from Andhra" to cooperate with the state's division in an amicable way before things go out of hand.
Unlike the MPs, however, the ministers did not commit to quitting their posts. A collective decision (on resignations) will be taken in consultation with MPs, MLAs, MLCs and other elected representatives, Panchayat Raj minister K. Jana Reddy told mediapersons.
The ministers decided to write to Sonia Gandhi, requesting her to expedite the process of creating a new state.
Nine ministers including Jana Reddy met at the Secretariat on Monday and discussed the fall-out of the Centre’s postponing the decision on Telangana.
T-Congress MPs discuss options
Panchayat raj minister K Jana Reddy called on Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and is said to have discussed with him, the situation after the Centre decided to postpone its announcement on Telangana.
The seven MPs who have decided to send in their resignations are: G. Vivek (Pedapalli), Ponnam Prabhakar (Karimnagar), Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy (Bhongir), Gutta Sukhender Reddy (Nalgonda), Manda Jagannadham (Nagarkurnool), S. Rajaiah (Warangal) and Madhu Yashki Goud (Nizamabad).
“We are utterly disappointed over the Centre’s indecision on announcement of a Telangana state. We will write to Mrs Sonia Gandhi to immediately announce the carving out of a separate state or else she should forward our resignation letters to the Lok Sabha Speaker,” said Vivek and Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy.
“We are still confident that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, who are in principle not against Telangana will grant the T-state,” they said.
The MPs had discussed several options before finalising on their strategy including facing elections twice within a short time. They noted that if their resignations were accepted, they would have to face bypolls within six months and again the general elections in 2014.
It was thus decided to avoid facing two elections within a short time and plan accordingly.
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