Telangana U-turn: 11 Cong MPs decide to quit

Eleven Congress Members of Parliament from Telangana on Thursday decided to resign from the House to protest against the Centre's decision that appeared to put the separate state issue on the backburner.

However, there was no clarity on what Union Minister for Urban Development S Jaipal Reddy, who is also an MP from Telangana region, proposes to do. The 11 MPs met at the Andhra Bhavan in New Delhi to chalk out their strategy in the wake of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's statement on Wednesday night. Chidambaram had stated that  the situation in Andhra Pradesh has altered since his December 9 statement on a separate state and there was a need for wide-ranging consultations on the issue.

Madhu Yashki, one of the MPs, told reporters they were yet to decide whether to give their resignations to party president Sonia Gandhi or Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar. They would, however, convey their protests against the government's action to Gandhi, he said.

"There is some dilution of Chidambaram's statement of December 9 (in which he had talked about initiating the process of formation of Telangana). We as MPs of the Telangana region will convey the sentiments of the people of Telangana to Gandhi and urge the high command to expedite the process of formation of Telangana by moving a bill in Parliament," MP G Vivekanand said after the meeting in Andhra Bhavan.

He said their goal was to achieve the formation of a separate state. They said they would also urge Congress members of Rajya Sabha to follow suit.

Vivekanand said the formation of Telangana should be done within a 'reasonable time'.