Seemandhra Telugu Desam MLAs too began resigning as they came under pressure from people of the region to quit their posts, especially in districts like Anantapur and Krishna where the protests against bifurcation has been intense.
Reports from Anantapur district indicate that all five MLAs, Payyavula Keshav, Palle Ragunath Reddy, Paritala Sunitha, B. K. Parthasarathy, K. Venkata Prasad have decided to resign and send in their resignations to the Assembly Speaker, after witnessing the widespread protests by thousands of people in the district headquarter town and elsewhere. Abdul Ghani of Hindupur was the first one to quit on Wednesday. Two MLCs, Mettu Govind Reddy and Samantakamani have also resigned. All of them said they were resigning in favour of united Andhra Pradesh.
At least three other MLAs from Krishna district including Devineni Uma have also decided to resign as they faced heat from the people who were calling for bandhs and organising protests in front of the house of people’s representatives. Sources in TDP said though the leadership has stepped in to counsel the MLAs against quitting, some more could follow suit.
The MLAs appeared shocked at the turn of events where large number of people were hitting the streets. They were under pressure as Congress MLAs have started resigning while YSRCP MLAs have already quit. While many blame Congress for the bifurcation, some of them are unhappy with their leadership’s stand over the issue. In retrospect, they feel the party should not have taken a pro-Telangana stand by submitting letters and seeking all party meetings over the issue. The party being in Opposition should have remain silent all through and allowed the ruling Congress, both at Centre and in State, to tackle the problem which after all was its creation, they feel. By taking a stand in favour of one region, the party has antagonised people of the other region, as is increasingly becoming clear now, they argue.
Meanwhile TDP leaders, S. Chandramohan Reddy, Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu and Bojjala Gopalakrishna Reddy found it strange that the Ministers and Congress MLAs should blame TDP for the bifurcation when the entire issue was re-ignited by their own party leaders. They recalled how Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, leader of the Opposition in an attempt to become Chief Minister egged on the Congress legislators to form a separate Telangana forum way back in 1999 and submit a letter to AICC president Sonia Gandhi.
