All except one of the 13 Ministers hailing from Telangana announced their decision to withdraw their resignations on Thursday, following the Home Ministry’s decision to invite eight political parties for consultations which they described as ‘a positive signal.’
They went in a group to Chief Minister K. Rosaiah in the Secretariat and informed him that they would not press the joint resignation letter they had sent to AICC president Sonia Gandhi. Ten of these Ministers earlier met A.P. Congress Committee president D. Srinivas who made it clear that the high command wanted them to withdraw their resignations as the Centre had convened a meeting to chalk out a road map for wider consultations on Telangana.
Minister for Information Technology K. Venkat Reddy, however, remained defiant and refused to withdraw his resignation. He also launched a sharp attack on Mr. Rosaiah, accusing him of espousing the cause of a unified Andhra Pradesh by harping on the damage caused to the economy by ‘bandhs’ and agitations. Ministers from the Andhra region termed his allegation as “irresponsible” and accused him of “indisciplined behaviour.”
The withdrawal of the resignations, however, evoked an adverse reaction from the Joint Action Committee of students who accused the Ministers of betraying the Telangana cause. Telugu Desam Party legislators from Telangana wanted the Ministers to stick to their resignations as “the Centre is unlikely to concede a separate State unless a constitutional crisis is precipitated.”
Meanwhile, Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to reach New Delhi two days ahead of the January 5 meeting.