Now,revolt in Congress for united Andhra

Resignations appear to be aimed at preventing passage of a resolution on Telangana in AP Assembly.

Several Seemandhra Congress ministers,MLAs and leaders raised the banner of revolt Thursday,submitting their resignations and vowing to launch agitations to reunify Andhra Pradesh. The resignations appeared to be aimed at preventing the passage of a resolution on Telangana in the Assembly in the next few days as well as to assuage the feelings of their constituents.

Nandyal MP S P Y Reddy and AP Official Language Commission chairman M Buddha Prasad were among those who quit. Two youths allegedly committed suicide in Kurnool to protest the split of the state.

After meeting Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy at his residence,seven ministers submitted their resignation letters,undeterred by AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singhs statement asserting that there was no going back on Telangana. So far,13 of the 22 Seemandhra ministers have quit. We gave our resignation letters in the proper format as required by the Assembly Speaker, said Minor Irrigation Minister T G Venkatesh.

Story continues below this ad

After holding a meeting at the CLP office,more than 60 MLAs started submitting their resignations at 5 pm.

As Speaker N Manohar was not available,they submitted the letters to the Assembly Secretary and gave copies to PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana. All of us came to attend the meeting with resignation letters in our pockets. All Congress MLAs of the coastal districts are ready to resign, said Tanuku MLA K V Nageswara Rao.

To deflect criticism that they did not oppose bifurcation,a dramatic blame game started in Hyderabad Thursday,with ministers and MLAs belonging to Rayalaseema and Andhra accusing the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) of sowing the seeds of bifurcation.

Except for the Congress Seemandhra ministers,all other parties had one by one announced that they had no objection to dividing the state. First,YSRCPs Y S Vijayalakshmi swore that her party supported Telangana. After many flip-flops,N Chandrababu Naidu also made it clear that he was not against the division of the state. Same is the case with BJP. All these parties and their leaders prepared the ground for bifurcation of state. We Seemandhra leaders made the mistake of keeping quiet. Now,we have decided to resign from our posts and positions and fight to unite the state again, said Nellore MLA Anam Vivekananda Reddy.

Story continues below this ad

A total of 22 Seemaandhra ministers and more than 60 MLAs and MLCs gathered for a meeting at Ministers Quarters in the morning to decide on the course of action. A source said that initially there was disagreement on whether they should resign straightaway or not.

While minister T G Venkatesh said they would submit their resignations,another minister,Dr S Sailajanath,said ministers and MLAs should take their own decisions on whether they should quit or not. However,they all condemned the destruction of statues of Jawaharlal Nehru,Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi in Anantapur,Kurnool and Chittor,which they said was the handiwork of YSRCP and TDP activists.

Meanwhile,violence continued for the second day in parts of Andhra and Rayalaseema with many areas observing total shutdowns. There was chaos at the Secretariat as hundreds of employees staged a demonstration.