With strong hints from the Congress leadership that there was no going back on division of the State, a group of Seemandhra MPs have decided to focus their attention on getting Union Territory status for Hyderabad.
As the Seemandhra MPs and Union Ministers failed to arrive at a consensus on quitting their seats, Union Minister Kavuri Sambasiva Rao is said to have suggested that they should start pressing for according UT status for Hyderabad.
Though, some MPs echoed his sentiments, few others felt that sharing of river water was another major issue that needs to be addressed first.
Seemandhra Union Ministers and MPs met at the Parliament Central Hall on Friday to take stock of the situation. Sources said while the resignation issue dominated the proceedings, the Congress leaders failed to arrive at any concrete decision.
Interestingly, some MPs, who had called on the top leadership of the party yesterday, had hinted at pressing for their resignation by meeting the Lok Sabha Speaker on September 24.
However, some MPs were aggressive that they can ill afford to ignore the out pouring of opposition to division of the State.
They insisted that only when they resign, there would be pressure on the Centre to defer decision on bifurcation.
Resignation plea
There was also a suggestion that all Seemandhra Congress Union Ministers should resign and retain their membership.
This, they said would give them a chance to air their concerns when the bill on division is taken up for discussion in the Parliament.
The leaders decided to meet again in a day or two and take stock of the situation and chalk out future course of action.
Friday’s meeting was attended by Union Ministers – Daggubati Purandeswari and Killi Kruparani, MPs – Ananta Venkatarami Reddy, G. V. Harsha Kumar, K.V.P.Ramachandra Rao and A. Saipratap.
