Hyderabad:
Hours after actor-politician Chiranjeevi resigned as an MLA from the Andhra Assembly, Chief Minister K Rosaiah held a press conference at which he said, "Government of India has to show the way out...it is not in my hands."
Since last week, Andhra has been split wide open about the central government's decision to sanction a new state of Telangana. Political parties in Andhra, like Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) and Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had expressed their support formally for a new state in early December. They've since completely changed their stand.
That's because all major parties, including the ruling Congress, have been inundated with resignations from their MLAs, protesting against the bifurcation of the state. 146 MLAs, including Chiranjeevi, have resigned. The protesting MLAs all come from the non-Telangana regions of Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. They say they want a "United Andhra."
Expressing his helplessness, Roasaih said, "No political party has one stand throughout the state." Rosaiah has also in the recent past distanced himself from the centre's sanction for a new state, claiming that he was not taken into confidence by his party's central leaders before they went public with their decision.
The centre's ok for a Telangana state came after an 11-day fast by K Chandrasekhar Rao, or KCR, as he's known. He heads the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) which has been leading the campaign for a new state. KCR's hunger strike was supported on the streets of Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana by violent demonstrations against the government.