Telangana row: Cong MPs, MLAs to quit on Monday

The ruling Congress MPs, legislators and state ministers from Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh on Friday said they would resign en masse on July 4 in support of their demand for a separate state. This decision was taken on Friday after a meeting of the leaders from the region attended by seven MPs, 18 MLAs, nine MLCs and nine ministers in Hyderabad.

The Congress, which has 156 MLAs in the house of 294, is likely to collapse once the 58 MLAs will quit n Monday. The leaders announced that they had no option but to take this drastic step as they were fed up of waiting for the Union government to act on the issue. "Meetings with the high command and also Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh have not yielded any results and hence we are taking this step," they announced.

Further they also said they were under pressure from voters, who have been demanding that they resign if the Congress was not working towards awarding statehood to Telangana. "The people of Telangana are expecting us to quit our posts for achieving separate statehood. Due to the delay in the formation of Telangana, there is an impression that we are not quitting our posts out of lust for power," Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Minister K Jana Reddy said.

"Now we are in a situation that we have to prove that we are not hankering for power. Hence we decided to submit our resignations on July 4," he added.

The decision by Telangana Congress leaders has taken the high command in New Delhi by surprise and they are contemplating measures to wriggle out of the mess. Party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said in New Delhi that

this was an internal matter and they would sort it out. "We are ready to hear them out and also sort out the problem but they should not be too aggressive," he said.

However, the MLAs may not be able to go ahead with their plans to resign en masse as state assembly Speaker N Manohar is out of the country and will arrive only on July 5.

The Congress will have no other choice but to woo these MLAs back because the support from Praja Rajyam Party and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen will not be sufficient to form a majority. Moreover, they also face a constant threat for the Jagan Reddy faction within the party. Other options such as the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti and Telegu Desam Party are also ruled out for the Congress.

Stick to your decision or we go on protest: Telangana students

For the students who have been spearheading the cause of Telangana the decision by the Congress lawmakers has come as a relief Dr Sangam Prithviraj, the student leader for the Telangana movement informed that Friday's stand by the Congress leaders has come as a ray of hope. "These MLAs should take an oath stating that the next time they contest the elections it would be from the state of Telangana and not Andhra Pradesh," he said. 

The student community is overwhelmed no doubt but they do hope that these MLAs stick to their stand. If the leaders change their mind the decision will be disastrous. They will not be allowed the enter their constituencies, said students, who vowed to go on a protest if the Congress ministers back out.

With inputs from PTI