72 Andhra MLAs, 11 MPs resign over Telangana

Agencies

Hyderabad, 05 July 2011: The Telangana statehood issue is on the boil again with all the 33 Telugu Desam Party MLAs and 35 Congress MLAs submitting their resignation to Deputy Speaker Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Monday demanding the division of Andhra Pradesh and the formation of a separate state.

 

The Congress MLAs who have resigned also include 11 ministers of the Kiran Kumar Reddy government. Four rebel TDP MLAs have also resigned bringing the total numbers of MLAs who have put in their papers over the issue to 72. Eleven Congress MPs - nine from the Lok Sabha and two from the Rajya Sabha - have also submitted his resignation to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hameed Ansari respectively.

 

More MLAs from the Telangana region including nine Congress MPs and 53 MLAs are also planning to resign on Monday over the Telangana issue.

 

The Centre has also reached out to MLAs from Telangana and invited them to New Delhi for another round of talks. All India Congress Committee General Secretary and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the Telangana issue was a sensitive one.

 

"I am in touch with the Telangana MPs and MLAs. We are expecting some of them to reach here (new Delhi) by afternoon. I requested them to one or two rounds of talks. We are hoping for the best. This is a very sensitive issue," said Azad.

 

Earlier, nine Congress MPs from Telangana failed to submit their resignation to the Lok Sabha Speaker on Monday morning as she had left her office after they failed to turn up at the appointed time.

 

Congress MP from Warangal in Telangana Rajaiah Siricilla blamed traffic jams for reaching late.

 

"The delay was accidental and not intentional. We are not against any talks but we are committed to our resignation. We got delayed due to traffic congestion. We have got the next appointment from the Speaker at 5:30 PM. We will stay here till 5:30 PM," said Siricilla.

 

Following the resignation of the Congress MLAs the political and constitutional crisis is likely to escalate in the state and spell trouble for Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy.

 

A rebel Congress MLA, Konda Surekha, also resigned from her post demanding creation of Telangana state.

 

Surekha, who is currently with the with YSR Congress Party of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, met the Assembly Deputy Speaker and submitted her resignation. She represents Parakala in Warangal district, the hotbed of Telangana agitation.

 

After submitting her resignation, Surekha demanded that Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) President K Chandrasekhar Rao and Medak MP Vijayashanthi also quit their posts within 48 hours.

 

In the 294-member Andhra Assembly, the Congress requires 148 MLAs for a clear majority. Although the Congress has 17 MLAs from Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party, the mass resignation can lead to an alarming situation.

 

But the Reddy government is not in the danger of collapsing even if all the MLAs from Telangana resign. The Congress will still have a majority in the Assembly with the reduced strength of 175 seats.

 

Strength of Andhra Assembly: 294 out of which 119 are from Telangana and 175 from rest of the state. The halfway mark is 148 and the Congress (155) including the Praja Rajyam Party (18) has the support of 173 MLAs. The TDP has 90 MLAs, Telangana Rashtra Samithi has 11, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) has seven and Communist Party of India has five,

 

The Communist Party of India(Marxist), YSR Congress and Lok Satta Party have one MLA each while the Bharatiya Janata Party has two. Two other MLAs are Independents.