Eleven Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) MLAs faxed their resignations once again to Speaker Nadendla Manohar on Monday after the latter had rejected the resignations letters of the Telangana MLAs on Saturday.
The Telangana Telugu Desam Forum, however, postponed its plan to send fresh resignations till the Speaker returned from abroad. The TD thus joins the ranks of the Congress, BJP and the CPI who are yet to decide on a course of action. The Speaker, who is currently on a foreign tour, will return on August 15. Before leaving, he had rejected the resignations by MLAs of the Congress, TD, TRS, CPI and the BJP on the grounds that they had been submitted “in an emotionally-charged environment”.
On Monday, the TRS floor leader, Mr Etala Rajender, the deputy floor leader, Mr T. Harish Rao and Mr K.T. Rama Rao, got the resignation ball rolling and other party MLAs followed suit. The rebel TD leader, Mr Nagam Janardhan Reddy, and three other MLAs also sent in their resignations.
Sources said that the Telugu Desam president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, who met the Telangana Telugu Desam Forum leaders, had asked them not to take any hasty steps and to wait for the Congress leadership’s decision on the issue.
The forum convenor, Mr E. Dayakar Rao, thus convened an emergency meeting and announced that though the forum was committed to the resignations and wanted the Congress and other parties to join them, the TD MLAs would submit their resignations to the Speaker when he retur-ned. He also constituted a four-member committee comprising MLAs Mr Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy, Mr L. Ramana, Mr Gampa Goverdhan and Mr G. Nagesh to study the legal options regarding the Speaker’s decision. “Faxing resignation letters will not serve the purpose. All Telangana leaders should come on one platform to take a stand against the Centre. Agitation, not talks is the need of hour,” said TD MLA M. Narasi-mhulu. The TRS, meanwhile, said that Union minister S. Jaipal Reddy should also resign from the Union Cabinet. “Since an opinion is being created that the mass resignations did not have the desired impact on the Central government and the Congress high command, it is time that Mr Jaipal Reddy, who hails from Telangana, resign from Cabinet,” said Mr Rama Rao.