Andhra Pradesh Speaker N. Kiran Kumar Reddy announced on Monday that he had accepted the resignations of 12 MLAs — 10 from the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and one each from the Telugu Desam and the BJP.
He did not announce a decision on the resignations submitted by three other MLAs — R. Damodar Reddy and Ch. Muthyam Reddy of the Congress and A. Maheshwar Reddy of Praja Rajyam.
Those whose resignations were accepted are Etala Rajender, T. Harish Rao, K.T. Rama Rao, K. Eshwar, N. Odelu, K. Sammaiah, E. Ravinder Reddy, G. Arvind Reddy, D. Vinay Bhaskar and K. Vidyasagar Rao (all TRS), N. Lakshminarayana (BJP) and Chennamaneni Ramesh (Telugu Desam). BJP floor leader G. Kishan Reddy announced that he would tender his resignation on the floor of the Assembly on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Congress government faced embarrassment when ruling party legislators from Telangana raised slogans and staged a noisy walkout during Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan’s maiden address to the joint session of the legislature to protest against the “unfavourable terms of reference” of the Justice Srikrishna Committee. Telugu Desam legislators from Andhra and Rayalaseema also raised slogans opposing bifurcation of the State while those from Telangana boycotted the Governor’s address.
Chief Minister K. Rosaiah expressed displeasure over the unprecedented action of the Congress legislators; at a Cabinet meeting later, he is said to have threatened to write to the Governor about the difficulty in running the State administration.
While the Governor’s address was in progress, students and police fought pitched battles on the Osmania University campus.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court has ordered that only civil police (and not CRPF or other special forces) should handle the volatile situation in the university.
