Women activist, with an effigy of AICC president Sonia Gandhi, protest against creation of Telangana, in Chittoor. PTIAICC had struck a ‘secret deal’ on Rayala-Telangana
Congress MPs from the Seemandhra region Vundavalli Arun Kumar, Lagadapati Rajagopal, and others coming out of the Parliament House after submitting their resignations, in New Delhi on Friday. Photo: V. Sudershan
Idea is to wrest the initiative from rival parties in the coming elections
Rayala-Telangana may, after all the protests, may become a reality as the AICC’s top brass had forged a ‘secret pact’ with leaders from Kurnool and Anantapur on merging the two districts with Telangana.
This is also evident from the carefully worded resolution passed by the Congress Working Committee on the formation of Telangana and AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh’s statement that a Group of Ministers would take a call on the demand for inclusion of more districts in Telangana State. Highly placed sources told The Hindu that Mr. Digvijay made these observations only after extracting an assurance from leaders of the two districts and some key persons in Telangana. A top AICC functionary telephoned Ministers from Kurnool and Anantapur and informed them of the plan to merge the two districts with a view to ensuring that there were 147 Assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats each in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Two Ministers – T. G. Venkatesh and Erasu Pratap Reddy -- who were strong votaries of united State, began to raise the concerns of Rayalaseema people and suggested formation of Greater Rayalaseema. The real intention, sources said, was to pave the way for Rayala-Telangna. There are others, who are not averse to the idea, but were afraid of openly backing the move, fearing backlash from their constituents.
Seeking anonymity, the source said Rayala-Telangana was very much on the cards. “Announcement of separate Telangana State with 10 districts is only to pacify leaders from the region. The Congress did not want to rub people of Anantapur and Kurnool as well as leaders of the TRS on the wrong side by announcing its merger with Telangana,” the sources said.
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Telangana effect: 20 lawmakers quit, Pallam Raju offers to resign
As the protest against the UPA’s decision to create Telangana gained momentum, seven Congress MPs, a State Minister and seven MLAs from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions on Friday quit Parliament. There are indications that many more party leaders may follow suit.
However, Congress apparently managed to dissuade four Union Ministers from resigning. HRD Minister Pallam Raju was one of them who offered to quit but was asked to stay on. Upset over the party’s decision taken on Tuesday, seven Congress MPs and four Union Ministers from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions held marathon meeting late Friday night to evolve strategy against formation of Telangana decision.
The seven MPs — six Lok Sabha members and a Rajya Sabha member — then went to Parliament on Friday morning and submitted their resignations.
The Lok Sabha members who put in their papers were A Sai Prathap (Rajampet constituency), Anantha Venkatarami Reddy (Anantapur) CV Harsha Kumar (Amalapuram-SC), Vundavalli Arun Kumar (Rajahmundry), Lagadapati Rajagopal (Vijayawada) and SPY Reddy (Nandyal). They submitted their resignations to Lok Sabha Secretary General TK Vishwanathan.
The MPs said that three more Lok Sabha members from the State — Sabbam Hari (Anakapalli), Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (Ongole) and Rayapati Sambasiva Rao (Guntur) — had also faxed their resignations. Congress has 31 members in the House from Andhra Pradesh.
Rajya Sabha member KVP Ramachandra Rao tendered his resignation to Rajya Sabha Secretary General Shamsher K Sheriff. Congress has 13 members in the Upper House. In Hyderabad, Municipal Administration Minister M Maheedhar Reddy resigned on Friday, taking to four the number of Ministers who put in their papers since Thursday.
Congress MLA Dronamraju Srinivas also tendered resignation and another half-a-dozen MLAs also claimed to have quit.
The total number of Congress MLAs who resigned since Thursday went up to 20 while about 15 others claimed to have submitted their resignations to PCC president B Satyanarayana.
Four Union Ministers — Pallam Raju besides Ministers of State D Purandeswari, Killi Kruparani and JD Seelam — were said to be among those intending to protest against the Telangana decision. Raju had already offered to quit.
They met AICC in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh after which they decided “to continue to hold fort” as they were assured that a high level committee would be set up to address the grievances of people from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.
The Ministers were believed to have been assured that they would be made members of the Committee.
The resignations by MPs came a day after Congress Union Ministers and unhappy MPs from Andhra and Rayalseema regions held a meeting at the residence of KVP Ramachandra Rao late last night.
At the meeting, the Union Ministers are understood to have counselled the MPs not to resign saying that after the Congress high-command’s decision on Telangana formation, it would focus on Andhra’s future development.
However, the MPs felt that the situation has still not gone out of hand and by tendering their resignations, they can force the government to hold back its decision.
Some of them were also of the view that the issue could be raised effectively in Parliament by stalling its proceedings when the Monsoon Session begins from Monday.
Meanwhile, five MPs of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) today resigned from their posts accusing the Congress of dividing Andhra Pradesh only to serve its political interests, .
The MPs — Y Satyanarayana Choudary, CM Ramesh (both Rajya Sabha), Nimmala Kistappa, Konakalla Narayana and Modugula Venugopal Reddy (Lok Sabha) — said they were resigning in protest against the “injustice” being meted out to (new) Andhra Pradesh through the division.
(With inputs from agencies)