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Upset over the ruling Congress and UPA's decision to create Telangana, seven Congress MPs from Andhra Pradesh today quit Parliament, with indications that some more were likely to resign soon.
The MPs, who put in their papers, were A Sai Prathap (Rajampet constituency), Anantha Venkatarami Reddy (Anantapur) C V Harsha Kumar (Amalapuram-SC), Vundavalli Arun Kumar (Rajahmundry), Lagadapati Rajagopal (Vijayawada) and S P Y Reddy (Nandyal).
While these MPs tendered their resignations to Lok Sabha Secretary General T K Vishwanathan, the lone Upper House member, KVP Ramachandra Rao, submitted his resignation to Rajya Sabha Secretary General Shamsher K Sheriff.
The MPs said that three more Lok Sabha members from the state -- Sabbam Hari (Anakapalli), Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (Ongole) and Rayapati Sambasiva Rao (Guntur) -- had also faxed their resignations.
The MPs claimed that central ministers from Andhra Pradesh would meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister tomorrow and then tender their resignations.
They said they had sought an appointment with Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar as per norms that the Speaker, who has to accept their resignations, has to be satisfied that they had taken the step on their own free will and not under duress.
The resignations came a day after Congress Union Ministers and some MPs from Andhra Pradesh held a meeting at the residence of KVP Ramachandra Rao late last night.
At the meeting, the Union Ministers are understood to have counselled the MPs not to resign saying that after the Congress high-command's decision on Telangana formation, it would focus on Andhra's future development.
However, the MPs felt that the situation has still not gone out of hand and by tendering their resignations, they can force the government to hold back its decision.
Some of them were also of the view that the issue could be raised effectively in Parliament by stalling its proceedings when the Monsoon Session begins from Monday.
