Hyderabad, Dec 12 (Inditop.com) Andhra Pradesh plunged into an unprecedented political crisis Saturday with all the ministers from the Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions deciding to resign in protest over the central government’s decision to pave the way for a separate state of Telangana.
The dramatic development came as Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao asserted that there would be no going back on the issue of Telangana and added that Hyderabad would be the new state’s capital.
All 20 ministers from the Andhra and Rayalaseema regions decided to submit their resignations to beleaguered Chief Minister K. Rosaiah.
The TRS chief, speaking to NDTV channel, rejected suggestions of making Hyderabad, an IT hub and one of India’s oldest cities, a shared capital with Andhra Pradesh.
Rao, whose 11-day hunger strike forced the central government to agree to the demand for a Telangana state, said: “Hyderabad can’t be compared with Chandigarh. It is not a new bifurcation. Telangana state existed earlier with Hyderabad as capital while Andhra state had Kurnool as its capital.”
He also said that there was no question of going back on a separate Telangana, adding that the protests in other regions against the new state were stage managed and sponsored by vested interests who had invested money and acquired lands in Hyderabad.
He said he had full faith in United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that they would take the necessary steps to make Telangana a reality.
Rao added that he had been invited to New Delhi for talks.
Normal life, meanwhile, came to a standstill for the second consecutive day Saturday in several parts of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions as protests continued against the nod for Telangana.
State-owned Road Transport Corp (RTC) buses remained off the roads in most of the 13 districts in the two regions while road blockades hit the movement of vehicles.
Shops, businesses, banks and educational institutions remained closed in all cities and major towns including the coastal city of Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur and Nellore. Cutting across party lines, the protesters took out rallies, staged road and rail blockades, hitting train services. They also attacked buses and trucks at several places.
The nine coastal districts and four districts of Rayalaseema have been witnessing massive protests ever since the central government announced Wednesday night that the process to form a separate Telangana would be initiated.
Rosaiah, who had taken over as chief minster Sep 3 after the death of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, is looking at the Congress central leadership to resolve the crisis.
Talking to a television channel, Rosaiah said he was “anguished” over the statement of Home Minister P. Chidambaram that a resolution for the formation of Telangana state would be moved in the state assembly.
He said despite his apprehensions, the central government had gone ahead with the announcement.
Rosaiah ruled out moving the resolution in the current winter session of the assembly.
As many as 130 legislators from the two regions, including 76 from the ruling Congress, have submitted their resignations to the assembly speaker. Legislators of the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) have also submitted their resignations.
In the 294-member assembly, 175 members come from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions while 119 are from Telangana.
Some groups are also demanding separate statehood to Rayalaseema region in the event Telangana is formed. Similarly, a section of political leaders in Andhra region want separate statehood, saying they can’t exist with Rayalaseema.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, speaking to reporters in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, said that the nod for Telangana did not mean that new states would be created everywhere.
Mukherjee said the demand for Telangana was old and it “does not mean that everywhere new states are to be created”.
