Hyderabad/New Delhi:
Mounting pressure on the Centre for an early decision on separate Telangana, 10 Congress MPs and 39 of its MLAs, including 11 ministers, and 34 TDP MLAs from the region today resigned from Parliament and Andhra Pradesh Assembly.
Even as Home Minister P Chidambaram counseled patience telling them that the consultation process was on, lawmakers from the region took their campaign to a new level.
Seven Congress MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker 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.
In Hyderabad, 39 Congress MLAs, including 11 ministers, resigned from the Assembly along with 34 TDP legislators.
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.