Andhra Pradesh Endowment Minister J Krishna Rao has resigned from the state cabinet in protest against the delay in the formation of Telagnana state.
Krishna Rao, who hails from Mehbubnagar district of Telangana region, met Governor E S L Narasimhan on Tuesday evening and submitted his resignation.
Rao said that he had submitted his resignation to the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on March 3 but its status was not clear. "That is why I met the governor personally and handed him my resignation," said Rao.
His resignation came a day before he starts a padyatra in Mehbubnagar district in support of the demand for Telangana state. Earlier this month he had tried to take out the padyatra but it was blocked by another minister from the same district D K Aruna on the ground that she was not consulted by Krishna Rao in the matter.
Krishna Rao's padytra has received support from several Congress MPs from Telangana and some ministers from the region.
"Telangana state is getting delayed because of the failure of the elected representatives from the region in mounting pressure on the government," he said. He recalled that when on December 9, 2009 the central government had announced that the process for the formation of Telangana state had begun, it was stopped with in hours by the elected representatives and ministers from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions by announcing their resignations. "If all the ministers from Telangana region had resigned at the time, Telangana state would have become a reality by now," he said.
He said that the chief minister had not accepted his resignation because it will bring more pressure on the other Telangana ministers to resign.