82 Telangana MLAs to quit

Eighty-two MLAs from Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh, belonging to five political parties, including ruling Congress and main Opposition TDP, on Thursday decided to resign in protest against the Centre putting the statehood issue on the backburner.

Eighty-two MLAs from Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh, belonging to five political parties, including ruling Congress and main Opposition TDP, on Thursday decided to resign in protest against the Centre putting the statehood issue on the backburner.

HT Image

According to spokespersons of these parties, the MLAs from Telangana met separately here and decided to submit their resignations to Speaker Kiran Kumar Reddy in protest against the Centre putting the issue of a separate state on the backburner.

While 39 of the MLAs who have decided to submit their resignations are from TDP, 30 are from Congress, TRS 10, PRP two and BJP one. Andhra Pradesh has a 294-member Assembly.

Telangana is observing a 48-hour shutdown since midnight last night over the Centre's decision to hold further consultations on the statehood issue, citing "altered" situation since December 9 and lack of consensus among political parties.

Almost all Telangana districts are witnessing violent demonstrations after Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's statement last night virtually putting the Telangana issue on hold.