ID :
192840
Mon, 07/04/2011 - 21:38
Auther :

Telangana campaign: 39 Cong, 34 TDP MLAs resign

Hyderabad/New Delhi, Jul 4 (PTI) India's southern
state of Andhra Pradesh appeared headed for a political crisis
on Monday with Congress and Telegu Desam Party (TDP) MPs and
MLAs, including 11 Ministers, from Telangana region resigning
en masse, mounting pressure on the Centre for early creation
of a separate state.
Even as Home Minister P Chidambaram counselled
patience telling them that the Centre would expedite the
consultation process, lawmakers from the region took their
campaign to a new level.
In Hyderabad, 39 Congress MLAs (Members of Legislative
Assembly), including 11 ministers, resigned from the Assembly
along with 34 TDP legislators. The Ministers, however, did not
quit the Cabinet as planned earlier.
Seven Congress MPs (Member of Parliament) met Lok
Sabha Speaker (lower house of the Indian parliament) Meira
Kumar in New Delhi and handed over their resignation letters
along with that of two other MPs who could not be present.
Rajya Sabha member K Keshav Rao met the Officer on Special
Duty to Chairman Hamid Ansari and submitted his resignation.
Rao, who is spearheading the campaign of lawmakers
from the region, dismissed criticism that the resignation was
a "gimmick" and said they were identifying themselves with the
people of Telangana, who want a separate state immediately.
"The Centre had on December 9, 2009 virtually
announced a separate Telangana state. But it has not been
implemented. We have been persuading them. Now, we are
helpless before the people of Telangana," he told reporters.
Asked whether the MPs would withdraw their
resignations, Rao said it could be reviewed if there was a
"concrete assurance" from the Congress High Command on the
issue within a time-frame.
The Congress has 50 MLAs from the region, while the
TDP has 36 and TRS 11 in the 294-member Assembly. Congress has
155 seats in the House.

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