MPs and MLAs from Telangana cutting across party lines today resigned their seats in protest against the Centre's decision to put the issue of the separate state on the backburner as the region shut down following a 48-hour bandh call.
Eleven Congress members of the Lok Sabha met in New Delhi this morning and decided to submit their resignation to party president Sonia Gandhi in protest against the Centre's decision last night on the issue.
They urged her to expedite the process of formation of the separate state.
At a meeting in Andhra Bhavan here, the MPs also decided to meet Union Minister S Jaipal Reddy, who is also an MP from Telangana region, and convey their decision.
A senior MP Madhu Yashki said they would also like Reddy to be part of their struggle, an indication that they would like him to resign.
Chidambaram's statement yesterday said there was need for wide ranging discussions on the Telangana issue as the situation in Andhra Pradesh has altered since his December 9 statement.
The ruling party MPs felt that the word consultations in Home Minister P Chidambaram's statement yesterday has created a perception among the people of Telangana that the issue of formation of separate state may take a longer time.
"There is some dilution of Chidambaram's statement of December 9 (in which he had talked about initiating the process of formation of Telangana).
"We as MPs of the Telangana region will convey the sentiments of the people of Telangana to Gandhi and urge the high command to expedite the process of formation of Telangana by moving a bill in Parliament," one of the MPs G Vivekanand said after the meeting in Andhra Bhavan in New Delhi.
He said their goal was to achieve the formation of a separate state. They said they would also urge the party members of Rajya Sabha to follow suit.
Vivekanand said the formation of Telangana should be done in a "reasonable time".
In Hyderabad, eight Telangana Rashtra Samiti MLAs put in their papers after their party chief President K Chandrasekhar Rao resigned in protest against the Centre's alleged betrayal on the Telangana issue.
Rao, who is a Lok Sabha member from Mahabubnagar, sent his resignation letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker late last night while the party's eight MLAs have also quit their posts.
"The party's MLAs have also resigned over the Centre's betrayal on the Telangana statehood demand," senior TRS legislator T Harish Rao said.
Ten TDP MLAs also decided to resign and extendeded support to the two-day bandh called in the region.
At a party meeting, 10 TDP MLAs belonging to Telangana decided to submit their resignations to Speaker N Kiran Kumar Reddy.
Former Andhra Pradesh Minister and TDP legislator N Janardhan Reddy told reporters that the Congress has "betrayed" the Telangana people by diluting its earlier promise of granting statehood to the backward region.
Meanwhile, normal life was paralysed across Telangana region due to the bandh with violence breaking out at some places.
The shutdown call had an immediate impact as students and other Telangana supporters came on to the streets and resorted to stone pelting on buses and shops in Hyderabad and other Telangana districts.
Violence broke out in Hyderabad, Warangal and other places in the region within hours of the Centre's announcement as police resorted to baton-charge to disperse angry crowds of protesters.
In the state capital, several petrol pumps were shutdown soon after TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao and other Telangana leaders gave the bandh call. Long queues were witnessed at the few petrol stations that remained open.
The Centre, meanwhile, deciced to rush about 1,150 additional para-military forces to Andhra Pradesh in view of the situation in the state.
Ten companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are being airlifted from New Delhi, Jalandhar and Chandigarh to be sent to Hyderabad, a senior Home Ministry official said.
With this deployment, the total strength of the force will increase from 28 companies to 38 (about 4,000 men) in the state.