Telangana cleared as India's 29th state

Congress MLAs, MLCs meet Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, say they will not resign, stress state unity.

Pro-Telangana leaders today met chief minister kiran kumar reddy to request that he should not allow political forces to work against the formation of a new state. the chief minister is meeting seemandhra leaders at gandhi bhavan this afternoon and later in the evening, seemandhra leaders are expected to meet the CM at his camp office.

TRS chief controversial remarks

Soon after the Congress Working Committee announced a new Telangana state, K Chandrasekhar Rao, chief of the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti or TRS had said earnestly, "Andhra people need not worry. They will be safe, they are our brothers...We will cooperate with them."
 
Only four days later, KCR as he is known, has made a controversial statement at odds with that sentiment.

Speaking to reporters in Telugu, the TRS leader suggested that all government employees belonging to the coastal and southern districts of Andhra Pradesh must go back to their regions, which will soon be part of a separate state after 10 districts are taken out to create Telangana.

Congress's Telangana crisis: 4 central ministers threaten to quit, 7 MPs put in papers

In a major embarrassment to the Cong leadership, seven MPs from Andhra Pradesh have resigned in protest statehood for Telangana.

Six Lok Sabha members and one MP fom the Rajya Sabha submitted their resignation letters to the Secretary Generals of the respective Houses of Parliament today.

MPs L Rajgopal, A Saipratap, V Arun Kumar, G V Harsh Kumar and Anant Venkatram Reddy give resignation letters to the Lok Sabha Secretary General

KVP Ramchandra Rao, Congress member of Rajya Sabha, tenders resignation.

Unhappy with the decision to the bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, several groups have called for a bandh in Rayalaseema for the third day today. Section 144 has been imposed in Anantapur district and Rayalaseema.

Telangana crisis: Now central ministers from Andhra Pradesh threaten to quit
The ruling Congress party's struggle to contain a mass resignation spree after its announcement of a separate Telangana state has shifted from Andhra Pradesh to New Delhi. Four Central ministers including Union Human Resource Development Minister Pallam Raju and Minister of State for Commerce Purandeswari have threatened to resign to protest the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. They will meet the Prime Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi later today.

Four Union ministers and 10 MPs from Seemandhra region have decided to resign in protest, say sources. They are likely to announce their decision at 11AM at Parliament Central Hall and submit their resignations.

After a four-hour meeting with Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy last night, only five ministers, nine MLAs and 3 MLCs announced that they had quit. 19 ministers had earlier threatened to quit.

Fresh Trouble however seems to be brewing in Delhi. Some MPs say they would meet in Parliament at 11 am to finalise their action plan.

Reports say four central ministers and 10 MPs may resign today.

A late night meeting was held at the residence of Congress MP K V P Ramachandra Rao in New Delhi which was attended by some Union ministers and MPs from Andhra Pradesh. Sources said some Congress MPs may resign in protest and that a final decision will be taken on Friday.

News Update

• Of the 19 ministers meeting with Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, some have resigned.
• The chief minster called Digvijaya Singh, Congress General Secretary incharge of Andhra Pradesh. Mrs Singh also spoke to the ministers over phone.
• 26 Congress MLAs reportedly  submitted their resignation at the Speaker's chambers.
• 14 TDP MLAs also claimed to have resigned to get justice for Seemandhra.

In addition to this, there is a meeting on at Rajya Sabha MP KVP Ramachandra Rao's house where three union ministers - JD Seelam, D Purandeswari, K Krupa Rani, Pallam Raju - are present. MPs L Rajgopal, Bapi Raju, Sai Pratap, Arun kumar, Anant Venkatram and Harsh Kumar are attending the meet.

The meeting was called by the MPs to ostensibly discuss the future course of action as there is lot of pressure from their constituents.

14 TDP MLAs resign protesting lack of firm assurances from Centre on development of proposed new Andhra Pradesh state: PTI

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde

• It is a tricky situation and we'll have to work around this.
• Can't say there was broad consensus in Andhra Pradesh on Telangana.
• We'll have to go though with implementation soon, demand for a separate state of Telangana was on of the oldest demands.
• Bill on Telangana unlikely in the Monsoon session.

Congress flying in  party general secretaries including Thirunavukkarasu to Hyderabad to convince ministers and MLAs to not quit.

Congress's Digvijaya Singh appeals for peace & calm, says 'No question of going back on Telangana'