Nine Cong MPs from Telangana region to resign

NEW DELHI:Ratcheting up pressure on the Centre, nine Congress MPs from Telangana region will tender their resignation to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari in protest against the delay in the formation of a separate state.

The MPs, including senior Congress leader K Keshav Rao, will be putting in their papers on Monday in line with a decision taken by at a meeting of party lawmakers from the region in Hyderabad yesterday.

"Due to delay in the process of formation of a Telangana state, the people of the region are in a state of deep anguish," the MPs said in a statement here on Saturday.

They said despite the Centre's statement on December 9, 2009 that steps would be initiated to form a separate Telangana state, the process was stalled by lawmakers from Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions in the state.

"In the last Budget session of Parliament, we have expressed our strong resentment in several ways to abide by the decision made on 9 th December 2009," they said.

Noting that they have been waiting for nearly two years now, the MPs said as there was no serious consideration from the core committee till yesterday, it is "inevitable for us to go by the people's decision."