The Telangana issue took centre stage again on Friday with several developments and announcements. Ruling Congress MPs, state legislators and ministers from the Telangana region announced finally that they will resign en masse on July 4 in support of their demand for a separate state of Telangana.
Also on Friday, a day after retiring as Union home secretary, Mr G.K. Pillai, speaking exclusively to this newspaper, revealed that “a decision on the Telangana issue will be taken this month”.
Meanwhile, reacting sharply to the Telangana Congress leaders’ resignation announcement, AICC general secretary in charge of AP party affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad categorically said that “Telangana statehood cannot be granted in a day and needs consensus at both national and state levels among all the three regions”.
Mr Azad, who was in Hyderabad, told reporters in the evening that Telangana Congress leaders should wait for the central party leadership to take a decision on the issue before rushing in with resignations.
After deliberations that lasted three hours at the Exhibition Grounds Friday morning, the Telangana Congress leaders, led by panchayati raj minister K. Jana Reddy, Rajya Sabha member K. Kesava Rao and scores of other party leaders announced to the media that the resignations will be submitted to the respective presiding officers of both Houses of Parliament and the state legislature at 11 am on July 4.
“We waited till June 30 for the Centre’s response to our demand to implement the announcement made on December 9, 2009 by Union home minister P. Chidambaram. Now it is time for action from our side,” they stated.
There are 15 ministers in the state Cabinet from the Telangana region, and 38 MLAs (excluding ministers), six MLCs, 11 Lok Sabha members and five Rajya Sabha members from the region.
The decision of three politicians from the region is not known. Sangareddy MLA T. Jayaprakash Reddy, Rajya Sabha member V. Hanumantha Rao, and Malkajagiri Lok Sabha member Sarve Satyanarayana had announced earlier that they would not resign from their posts but would prevail upon the Congress central leadership to grant Telangana statehood.
Deputy chief minister Damodar Raja Narasimha, and city ministers Danam Nagender and Mukhesh Gowd, had also decided not to quit.
The Speaker of the Assembly, Mr Nadendla Manohar, is in the US at present and will return only on July 8, but Congress and other leaders can submit their resignations either to deputy speaker Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka or to the Legislature secretary.
Soon after the public statement by the Congress party leaders, the Telugu Desam Party’s Telangana Legislators’ Forum leaders Erraballi Dayakar Rao and Motkupally Narasimhulu also announced that all 38 Telugu Desam party MLAs and MLCs will also submit their resignations on the same day, immediately after the Congress leaders submit their resignation letters.
Rebel TDP MLAs Nagam Janardhana Reddy, Harishwar Reddy and Jogi Ramanna also announced on Friday that they will quit their posts on July 4.
It is also learnt that 11 MLAs of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, two MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and four MLAs of the Communist Party of India will also tender their resignations on July 4.
Of the 119 MLAs representing the Telangana region, seven members of the Majlis party have kept out of the pro-Telangana agitation. The CPI(M) has one lone member from the region. If the Telangana MLAs, numbering a little over 100, resign, it would create a political and constitutional crisis.