Three Congress MPs from Seemandhra quit

Three Congress MPs from Seemandhra Thursday resigned to protest the union cabinet's decision to carve out separate Telangana state.

Some central ministers from Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra) are also likely to quit to protest state's bifurcation.

U. Arun Kumar, Lok Sabha member from Rajahmundry, was the first to announce his resignation both as MP and member of the party. He said the decision to divide the state was taken in an undemocratic manner.

MP from Anantapur, Ananta Venkatarami Reddy said he was also resigning as MP as the cabinet had not taken the concerns of Seemandhra people into consideration.

Sai Pratap, MP from Rajampet, also announced his resignation. He sent his resignation letter to party president Sonia Gandhi.

G. Harsha Kumar, MP from Amlapuram, warned that Congress would have to pay a heavy price for taking the decision.

Congress sources said union Textiles Minister K.S. Rao, Human Resource Development Minister M.M. Pallam Raju and Tourism Minister K. Chiranjeevi also had decided to resign. An announcement by the three ministers is likely on Friday.