Four Andhra MPs urge speaker to accept resignations

Four Congress MPs from Seemandhra Saturday met Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and urged her to accept their resignations submitted last month to protest a party decision to divide Andhra Pradesh.

Lok Sabha members U. Arun Kumar, Anantha Venkatarami Reddy, L. Rajagopal and A. Sai Pratap met the speaker in New Delhi to request her to accept their resignations.

Arun Kumar later told reporters that the speaker individually called them to know the reasons for the resignations.

"We told her that we have given the resignations with full consciousness and in tune with the people's aspirations," he said.

"As far as we are concerned, we feel that our resignations are accepted. We hope the speaker will soon issue a bulletin in this regard," he said.

Venkatarami Reddy said since the leaders of government employees of Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra) leading the agitation have demanded resignations of all MPs to mount pressure on the central government to withdraw the decision to bifurcate the state, they had submitted their resignations.

The MPs were confident that the central government would not bring a bill in parliament to carve out a separate Telangana state.

Six Congress MPs from Seemandhra Aug 2 submitted their resignations to the speaker.