TRS MPs, MLAs to resign over Telangana issue

New Delhi: Stepping up pressure for carving out a separate Telangana state, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MPs have decided to resign from the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The resignation of TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao and three of his colleagues — Vinod Kumar, Ravindra Naik and T Madhusudan Reddy — would be followed by the resignation of 16 party MLAs and three MLCs from Andhra Pradesh Assembly the next day.

The announcement was made on Sunday by Rao himself at a rally of the party which is spearheading the agitation for separate Telangana state.

Criticising Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Rao charged the party, which fought elections along with the TRS on the issue, with ditching it after coming to power.

Rao also asked other party MLAs and MLCs, especially Congress, to resign their seats if they are committed to Telangana cause.

Rao had stepped down as a Union minister over a year ago and had also resigned his Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat which he later won during the by-poll on the separate statehood plank.

Rao formed the party ahead of the assembly polls and had joined hands with the Congress. The coalition swept the polls.

The protest action by the TRS is coming at a time when Lok Sabha polls are only a year away and the talk is that it could be advanced.

Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh are scheduled along with the Lok Sabha polls.

TRS had set March six as deadline for the UPA Government to initiate the process for formation of new state out of Andhra Pradesh and threatened en-masse resignations if the Centre failed to respond by then.

"All our MPs, MLAs and MLCs will submit their resignations if the government fails to commence the process for carving out Telangana state. This is the last chance for Congress to prove its sincerity," Rao, a former Union Minister, had said.

At the rally, Rao also criticised Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, alleging that Reddy was not supporting the Telangana issue.

"We are fighting for a just cause. The people of Telangana will never forgive those who oppose the formation of separate state," he said.

"We will succeed in our demand. No body can stop us," he asserted.