Telangana :Seven Congress MPs to resign, Protests to continue on Tuesday

Under fire from pro-statehood forces,Seven Congress MPs from Telangana threatened to resign from the party as the protests further intensified on Tuesday.

The demand for a separate Telangana state  has gained momentum  as Seven of the 12 Congress MPs from the Telangana region decided to quit both parliament and the party while state ministers also said they were ready for any sacrifice for the said cause .

seven MPs wrote a letter to party president Sonia Gandhi

Seven of the 12 Congress MPs wrote a letter to party president Sonia Gandhi saying that either Telangana state be formed at once or their resignations be accepted, nine ministers have said that they would "observe restraint" for the time being.


This development  originated after the  Congress high command, ignoring its own one-month deadline, indefinitely postponed a decision on the vexatious issue.

CASE AGAINST SHINDE

A Ranga Reddy district court on Monday directed the LB Nagar police to file a “cheating” case against Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and his predecessor P. Chidambaram, currently Union finance minister.

The court ruling came on a petition filed by N. Naresh Kumar, president of the Junior Advocates Association of Telangana (JAAT), who alleging that both ministers had “cheated” the people of Telangana by promising to come to a consensus regarding a separate state by January 28.

Second metropolitan magistrate court judge U.D. Durga Prasad directed the LB Nagar police to file a case under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code against the two Union ministers.

The Telangana Joint Action Committee, which is spearheading the movement for separate Telangana state, called upon the people of the region to permanently boycott the Congress party and its leaders.

 If they do resign, it would make the UPA's position in Parliament even more precarious.

The seven MPs are Ponnam Prabhakar, Madhu Yashki, G Vivekananda, S Rajaiah, Manda Jagannatham, Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy and Gutta Sukhender Reddy  who met separately, said they would announce their future course of action on Tuesday

"Yes, we will set a deadline but that need not be revealed to you...It will be between us," Panchayat Raj Minister K Jana Reddy told reporters after a meeting with fellow ministers at the secretariat this evening.

Protests to contiune on Tuesday

Protestors in Hyderabad and nine other districts of Telangana vented their ire at the Congress, accusing it of betraying people even as Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao vowed to intensify the agitation with a call for laying siege to the assembly during the budget session.

Hyderabad and OSmania university which is known as the epicentrere of protests  is simmering   with tensions as  protests  are to continue  on the third day  of 36-hour 'Samara Deeksha" on Tuesday.

Protestors in Hyderabad and nine other districts of Telangana have accused the Congress of betraying people even as Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao vowed to intensify the agitation with a call for lay siege to the assembly during the budget session.

 Ministers Jana Reddy, Ponnala Lakshmaiah, D Sridhar Babu, P Sabita Indra Reddy, D K Aruna, V Sunita Laxma Reddy,Basavaraj Saraiah, Prasad Kumar and P Sudershan Reddy held a closed-door meeting in Jana Reddy's chambers and discussed the fallout of Union ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sushil Kumar Shinde's statements on the statehood demand.
   

Six other ministers from the region, including Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, stayed away from the meeting.
   

"Postponement of a decision on the issue created some misgivings about the Congress high command and also us. But we understand that a positive decision will be taken. We firmly believe that Telangana state will definitely be formed", Jana told a crowded press conference at the end of their meeting.

Telangana students’ Joint Action Committee called for a shutdown Tuesday, while proponents of a united Andhra Pradesh intensified their stir in the Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.

The state may again be heading for a December 2009-like situation when MPs and state legislators in Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and Andhra) resigned enmasse after the central government announced that the process for formation of Telangana state would be initiated. When the decision was put on hold citing lack of consensus, many MPs and state legislators in Telangana submitted their resignations.