4 mantris to quit today

Highlights

The Seemandhra ministers, who appear to be losing hope of convincing the party high command to put the process of bifurcation of the state on hold, have decided to defy the party stand and resign from the council of ministers. This decision was taken following a meeting of Seemandhra leaders like Vundavalli Arun Kumar, S Sailajanath, Kondru Murali Mohan, Gade Venkat Reddy, J C Diwakar Reddy and Danam Nagender with Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy at his camp office on Sunday.

  • Hopes fade among Seemandhra leaders
  • Realise high command in no mood to stall T
  • Ministers’ decision after meeting with Kiran
  • More ministers expected to follow suit l All leaders to protest at Assembly tomorrow
  • Union Ministers, MPs to meet Antony

Hyderabad: The Seemandhra ministers, who appear to be losing hope of convincing the party high command to put the process of bifurcation of the state on hold, have decided to defy the party stand and resign from the council of ministers. This decision was taken following a meeting of Seemandhra leaders like Vundavalli Arun Kumar, S Sailajanath, Kondru Murali Mohan, Gade Venkat Reddy, J C Diwakar Reddy and Danam Nagender with Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy at his camp office on Sunday.

According to Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Erasu Pratap Reddy, P Viswarup and he would meet Governor ESL Narsimhan on Monday, convey their opposition to the bifurcation and submit their resignation letters to him. Rao said the possibility of Kasu Venkata Krishna Reddy also joining them is not ruled out. According to reports Minister Balaraju is also planning to quit. During the meeting, these leaders are understood to have resolved to intensify efforts in Delhi to persuade their high command to slow down the T-process.

They felt that with indications from centre that the process of carving separate state would be put on fast track from second week of September, they should take resort to the last option they have and take a plunge into the agitation for Samaikyandhra if their political future was to be saved. This move of resignation will be followed by a sit-in protest in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the Assembly premises on Tuesday, demanding that the State be kept united.

The current session of parliament is witnessing strong protests by both Congress and TDP MPs from the Seemandhra region seeking "justice" with some even demanding a united Andhra Pradesh. The protests had paralysed proceedings in the Lok Sabha for quite some time and the suspension of as many as 12 members belonging to both Congress and TDP had restored normalcy in the Lower House. Right now, an AICC committee headed by senior leader A K Antony and comprising Digvijay Singh, Veerappa Moily and Ahmed Patel is hearing concerns of all stakeholders in the wake of the Congress Working Committee decision to have separate Telangana. The CWC, which met on July 30, passed a resolution requesting the Centre "to make steps in accordance with the Constitution to form a separate state of Telangana ... Within a definite timeframe".

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