Telangana issue: AP Congress ministers decide against resignations

Say they cannot defeat the resolution on bifurcation if they resign before the matter is referred to Assembly

The statements, bordering an open defiance of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on the issue of state bifurcation, proved an empty rhetoric on Friday after the ministers, including the chief minister, decided not to resign. This comes just hours before the Union Cabinet met to consider the issue of Telangana.

“We cannot defeat the resolution on the state bifurcation if we resign before the matter is referred to the state legislative Assembly. Therefore, we have decided against resignations,” said S Sailajanath, state minister and spokesperson for the anti-bifurcation lobby in the ruling party soon after an emergency meeting held by the ministers and MLAs of the Congress at the minister's quarters.

The meeting was specifically called by the coastal Andhra ministers in the light of news reports that the Union Cabinet on Friday was going to consider a note prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Telangana statehood.

Some of the national media websites even posted a gist of this note, which has been drafted on the lines of the resolution adopted on July 30 by the CWC favouring a Telangana state with Hyderabad as an integral part.

Later in the day, the Union Cabinet met and decided to bifurcate the state of Andhra Pradesh with Hyderabad as joint capital for a period of 10 years.

Political observers interpreted the justification given against resignations as a mere face saving exercise by the ruling party leaders as the defeat of a resolution on Telangana on the floor of the House would not change the course of events as has already been clarified by party’s national leaders such as Digvijay Singh.

The associations of government staff and the state-owned road transport corporation in the Seemandhra region, who are on a strike for over two months now, however continued to demand the resignation of ministers and MPs for stalling the bifurcation decision.

Meanwhile, Director General of Police (DGP) B Prasada Rao reviewed the security arrangements across the state in the light of Delhi developments. The police declared high alert in sensitive areas in the state. Anti bifurcation activists have declared a bandh ahead of the Union Cabinet meeting.

Political leaders and employees from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema have been opposing the bifurcation primarily because the city of Hyderabad was considered as a part of the new state even though it was proposed to continue as a joint capital for the next 10 years for both the regions by the CWC.

Interestingly, chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who had openly demanded the Delhi leadership not to take any further step on state bifurcation before addressing all the concerns of the people of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, also reportedly toed a similar line when some of these ministers went to discuss with him on the Delhi developments.

In the last few days, even those ministers who were considered close to Kiran Reddy had distanced themselves from him as he was increasingly taking a public posture criticising the party high command on the issue of bifurcation. This has expectedly mellowed him and also neutralised a possible revolt in the state Congress ahead of the state bifurcation.

However, a few more MPs and MLAs are expected to leave the party after getting assurance of a ticket by the YSR Congress, which is widely perceived to be the front runner in the next general elections in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.

Soon after the CWC resolved to create Telangana, the YSR Congress declared it was against it in a bid to further consolidate its position in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions on the back of ongoing agitations against the proposed bifurcation.

The opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), on the other hand, was hoping to make a come back at the cost of Congress’ eroding prospects in the region though YSR Congress president Y S Jagan Reddy appears to have an edge over the latter in this race.