Hyderabad, July 2: In a show of proof that they are not for power or pelf but for statehood to the region, Telangana Congress public representatives decided on Friday to resign from their positions and submit letters to the authorities concerned individually at 11 am on July 4.
The MPs will submit their letters of resignation in a proper format to the Lok Sabha speaker and the Rajya Sabha chairman, while the MLAs and MLCs will submit theirs to the Assembly speaker and Council chairman respectively.
The decision was taken at a meeting held here. Nine of the 15 ministers, 18 of the 35 MLAs, three associate members, nine of the 18 MLCs, seven of the 12 Lok Sabha members and one of the five Rajya Sabha members attended the meeting which lasted for about three and a half hours.
They decided to persuade their colleagues, who did not attend the meeting for various reasons, to fall in line and resign along with them.
Karimnagar MP Ponnam Prabhakar was the first to propose resignations and was followed by Bhongir MP Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy. Sangareddy MLA T Jayaprakash Reddy and some others strongly opposed the decision.
The leaders came round to the opinion that the party high command would make an announcement on Telangana at the earliest only if they remained united.
They were also confident that the party leadership would not precipitate a constitutional crisis in the state by accepting their resignations.
Talking to newsmen later, minister K Jana Reddy hoped that the Congress high command would see their decision from a right perspective and resolve the issue.
Another senior leader K Keshava Rao, said already 600 sons of the soil had sacrificed their lives for T and more would die if the issue was dragged on.
–Agencies