You are free to resign

• Their pleas with Digvijay did not cut any ice
• It is made clear that there is no going back on T
• They are meeting Antony on Monday or Tuesday
• D-Day on Sept 24 on resignations
• Some ministers refuse to resign

Hyderabad/New Delhi: The Seemandhra MPs find themselves at cross roads. All their efforts to put pressure on the party high command to postpone the decision on bifurcation of the state have hit a road block. AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh had made it clear that there was no point in Seemandhra MPs’ continued opposition to the decision of the CWC. Besides some ministers do not subscribe to the idea of resignations.

According to sources, even their threat to resign from the Lok Sabha did not cut any ice with Digvijay Singh. When they told him that they were unable to go to their constituencies as people there were demanding their resignations, Digvijay told them that they were free to do so.

When the MPs said that the situation had arisen because of the sudden decision of the CWC to bifurcate the state, the AICC general secretary interrupted them and said that it was a conscious decision taken by the party high command after consulting one and all. “It is you MPs who are changing the stand,” he said.

Digvijay Singh further said that if they felt that they would face problems in elections, they should leave the matter to the party. He also told them that there was no point in asking him to put on hold the process but instead should come up with concrete suggestions on the status of Hyderabad if they have any.

Stung by the sharp reaction to their pleas, the Seemandhra MPs met in the chambers of Union Minister Kavuri Sambasiva Rao in Parliament House on Friday and reviewed the situation but could not come to any firm decision. They decided to meet again on Monday when all Seemandhra MPs and ministers would be present and decide on their next course of action.

Later talking to media Magunta Srinivasula Reddy said that the Union Ministers and Congress MPs from the Seemandhra region would meet Union Defence Minister A K Antony either on Monday or Tuesday, when he was expected to be back home from the hospital. The Seemandhra Congress leaders have already met other members of the Antony Committee – M Veerappa Moily, Ahmed Patel and Digvijay Singh – and are now waiting to meet Antony.

They will also try to meet the AICC president Sonia Gandhi and make yet another attempt to convince her on the need to address the various issues raised by the people of Seemandhra region who have been agitating for over 55 days, MP Ananta Venkataram Reddy said.

It may be mentioned here that the Seemandhra Congress MPs have already fixed up an appointment with Speaker Meira Kumar at 11:30 am on September 24. The Seemandhra Congress MPs are prepared to press for their resignation, if the Congress High Command does not relent and show some sort of accommodation to the Seemandhra Congress leaders. The feeling among them is that all the decisions of the Congress High Command are partial to Telangana.

Meanwhile, the AICC spokesperson P C Chacko at a press conference in New Delhi said that the MPs might be thinking of resignations under pressure from their constituents but then the party was in no position to go back on its decision to divide the state. He said the party had taken cognizance of the feelings of the people of Seemandhra region and would do justice to all. Another spokesperson Manish Tiwari said that the Home Ministry had prepared the cabinet note on Telangana and that there would be no delay in taking the process forward.