The current political crisis in Andhra Pradesh has deepened, with 37 more legislators belonging to the Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) resigning today in protest against the central government’s decision to initiate the process for creating a separate Telangana state.
With this, the number of legislators who have resigned so far has swelled to 130.
Chief Minister K Rosaiah said he was “really worried” about resolving the issue. “I am informing the Congress’ central leadership about the day-to-day developments in the state, so that the party high command finds a suitable solution to end the imbroglio,” he said.
Of the 130 coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema MLAs who have resigned, 76 are from the Congress, 40 from TDP and 14 from PRP. While the Congress has a total of 106 MLAs elected from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, the TDP and PRP have 53 and 16 legislators, respectively. State Assembly Speaker N Kiran Kumar Reddy, to whom the legislators submitted their resignation letters, said he would talk to each of the MLAs personally before taking a decision.
Meanwhile, the MLAs belonging to the Congress and PRP formed a joint action committee (JAC) as part of their effort to intensify the ongoing agitation for a “United Andhra”. JAC plans to organise hunger strikes in the two regions to protest against the bifurcation of the state. The agitated members have also disrupted the Assembly proceedings and the Speaker adjourned the House till Monday without transacting any business. Meanwhile, the call for shutdown given by the supporters of ‘United Andhra’ in Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra today was total and largely peaceful.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi President K Chandrasekhara Rao, who broke his fast-unto-death following the Centre’s announcement to form Telangana state, was today discharged from the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences here.
