Political backlash from non-Telangana regions

The Centre's decision to carve out a separate Telangana state today provoked a political backlash, cutting across party lines from the rest of Andhra Pradesh with 93 MLAs quitting the assembly.

Three MPs—two from Congress and one belonging to Telugu Desam Party (TDP)—also threatened to resign from Parliament protesting against the decision to confer statehood on Telangana region in the wake of TRS leader K Chandrasekhar Rao's 'fast-unto-death' protest, which he has called off now.

Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, emerged as a bone of contention between the two sides, with Telangana leaders insisting that it should remain with their region while those from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema opposed it being ceded to the new state.

The Congress High Command, which apparently did not not expect such a strong reaction from the other regions, got into  a damage-control mode with party president Sonia Gandhi meeting MPs from Andhra Pradesh.

Gandhi told agitated non-Telangana MPs that all views would be taken into account during talks.

TDP, whose leader N Chandrababu Naidu had expressed support for Telangana a few days ago, today took a U-turn and expressed total opposition to the bifurcation, and Hyderabad going away to Telangana.

Sensing trouble, chief minister K Rosaiah said he would consult all political parties before tabling a resolution in the assembly for the creation of Telangana.

Announcing the Centre's decision to confer statehood on Telangana, home minister P Chidambaram, had said last night that the process would be initiated and an appropriate resolution would be tabled in the assembly. But he declined to give any specific time-frame for it.

Those who have sent their letters of resignation to the Andhra Pradesh speaker Kiran Kumar Reddy are 53 from the Congress, 29 (TDP) and 11 (Praja Rajam Party). Congress has 155 of the 294 MLAs in the assembly. TDP has a total of 92, while PRP, 18.

The resignations submitted are either written by hand or have been typed and sent to the speaker, who would take a decision only after talking to the MLAs individually, Reddy said.

The MLAs have expressed their opposition to the "unilateral" decision by the Centre, saying such a major decision has been taken without taking into account "people's feelings".

The MPs who resigned or have announced their decision to resign are Lagdapati Rajagopal (Congress-LS), Ananth Venkatrami Reddy (Congress-LS) and Mysoora Reddy (TDP-RS).

Rajagopal met Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar this morning and handed over his resignation.

Strongly criticising the Centre and Sonia Gandhi for the decision on Telangana, Naidu accused them of taking such a step without taking into confidence the opposition parties and other stakeholders.

Asked about his earlier statement of support to a Telangana resolution, he said, "I had said if they bring a resolution, we will support it. But what is the format, what is the guideline. There is a process. You didn't do all this."

Calling it a "sensitive" issue, Naidu said the Centre and the Congress have bungled, and that "there is no brand equity for Hyderabad now. Who will come and invest?"

While Telangana accounts for 119 seats out of the 294 assembly seats and 17 Lok Sabha segments, the rest of Andhra Pradesh has 175 assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies.

Of the 155 Congress MLAs, 51 are from the Telangana region and 107 are from the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.

Unfazed by the opposition in Andhra Pradesh, Chidambaram told Rajya Sabha that he had spoken to Chandrasekhar Rao and that he has invited him for discussion on the "next step".

Leader of Lok Sabha and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said all processes regarding the formation of Telangana will be "fully followed".

Leader of opposition in Lok Sabha LK Advani congratulated the speaker and the House for intervening on the issue and said "government has acted on the basis of voice of the House".

Amidst the political turmoil, a wave of joy and cheer swept the Osmania University, the nerve centre of the Telangana movement, as hundreds of students and pro-Telangana supporters assembled in the campus this morning and burst into celebrations.

They hailed the Centre's decision and organised 'Vijayotsav', a victory celebration.

Slogans of 'Jai Jai Telangana' filled the air as students burst crackers, distributed sweets, sang traditional Telangana folk songs and danced to drum beats echoing in the varsity campus, amidst huge presence of security personnel.