Hyderabad:
The Centre's decision to announce a new state of Telangana has set off a huge backlash in the state assembly. Not just the Congress, but across parties, around 96 MLAs have resigned in protest or are threatening to do so, over 40 of them from the Congress itself, plunging the Rosaiah government into a potential crisis of being in a minority.
As the backlash grew within the party, Chief Minister Rosaiah said nothing would be done without a consensus.
A meeting of Congress MPs from Andhra took place in the captial to find a solution to the Telangana issue. However, there was no consensus after the meeting, chaired by Congress General Secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh, Veerappa Moily.
"We are terribly hurt by the High Command's decision. We want Sonia Gandhi to change her decision,'' Anam Vivekananda Reddy, a Congress MLA from Nellore.
The midnight announcement by Union Home Minister Chidambaram has provoked otherwise loyal Congressmen to question the High Command's wisdom in deciding to grant statehood to Telangana. As a pressure tactic, MLAs are queuing up to resign.
The Congress had hoped to minimise political damage by stopping the demand for a separate Telangana and to stop it from becoming a law and order problem. But this has exploded into a political crisis for the party.
The Telugu Desam and Praja Rajyam that had earlier said they would support a resolution on Telangana also blamed the Congress for making the late night announcement without consulting anyone else.
"They said they would evolve a consensus. They failed to evolve a consensus even within their own party. They have pushed into a crisis,'' said TDP president Chandrababu Naidu.
"The matter could not have waited another day. We had to restore normalcy and by and large it has been restored," said the Home Minister.
Analysts point out that even the issue of Jaganmohan Reddy taking over after YSR's death did not trigger such strong reactions, because this time round, political futures is linked to economic stakes in Hyderabad, across partylines.
"Our prime responsibility is to express the views of people who have elected us, which we are trying to do. This has nothing to do with Chandrababu Naidu or TDP,'' said P Keshav, TDP MLA from Anantpur.
As the backlash grew within the party, Chief Minister Rosaiah said nothing would be done without a consensus.
A meeting of Congress MPs from Andhra took place in the captial to find a solution to the Telangana issue. However, there was no consensus after the meeting, chaired by Congress General Secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh, Veerappa Moily.
"We are terribly hurt by the High Command's decision. We want Sonia Gandhi to change her decision,'' Anam Vivekananda Reddy, a Congress MLA from Nellore.
The midnight announcement by Union Home Minister Chidambaram has provoked otherwise loyal Congressmen to question the High Command's wisdom in deciding to grant statehood to Telangana. As a pressure tactic, MLAs are queuing up to resign.
The Congress had hoped to minimise political damage by stopping the demand for a separate Telangana and to stop it from becoming a law and order problem. But this has exploded into a political crisis for the party.
The Telugu Desam and Praja Rajyam that had earlier said they would support a resolution on Telangana also blamed the Congress for making the late night announcement without consulting anyone else.
"They said they would evolve a consensus. They failed to evolve a consensus even within their own party. They have pushed into a crisis,'' said TDP president Chandrababu Naidu.
"The matter could not have waited another day. We had to restore normalcy and by and large it has been restored," said the Home Minister.
Analysts point out that even the issue of Jaganmohan Reddy taking over after YSR's death did not trigger such strong reactions, because this time round, political futures is linked to economic stakes in Hyderabad, across partylines.
"Our prime responsibility is to express the views of people who have elected us, which we are trying to do. This has nothing to do with Chandrababu Naidu or TDP,'' said P Keshav, TDP MLA from Anantpur.
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