The Telangana impasse continued on Tuesday, with the Congress leadership failing to break the ice. Senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel, assisted by Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas S. Jaipal Reddy, continued discussions with the Congress Ministers, MPs and MLCs from Telangana, who resigned to press their demand for a separate State.
The legislators made it clear to the leadership that they were firm on their resignation, respecting people's sentiments, and that they would not budge unless the government immediately began the process of formation of Telangana. They emphasised that their stand was not against the party, and they had no intention of violating the party discipline or embarrassing it. They had no alternative but to resign, they said.
Meanwhile, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Parliamentary Party leader Nama Nageswara Rao (representing Khammam) and Ramesh Rathod (Adilabad) met Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and handed over their resignation letters.
Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhara Rao (Mahabubnagar) and M. Vijayashanti (Medak) submitted their resignation through fax.
Lok Sabha Secretary-General T.K. Viswanathan told The Hindu that the Speaker had so far received 13 letters of resignation — from nine members of the Congress and two each of the TDP and the TRS. While nine of them handed over the letters in person, the other four letters were received through fax.
All the letters were kept pending decision by the Speaker.
Peddapally Congress MP G. Vivekanand said Mr. Jaipal Reddy, the only representative in the Cabinet from the Telangana region (elected from Chevella), had assured his party colleagues that he would resign from the Cabinet if the Centre decided not to create Telangana.
