Why have Telangana legislators' resignation not been accepted: BJP

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party has queried why resignations of Congress MPs and MLAs from Telangana were still pending with presiding officers, and not accepted.

"When an MLA or MP explicitly expresses the desire to resign and gives it in writing, it’s the Speaker’s responsibility to accept it," BJP spokesperson Jai Prakash Nadda told reporters here.

He said though the party would not like to comment on the Speaker’s office, the letters have been pending for days.
"Why aren’t the resignations accepted," he asked. Speaker Meira Kumar had said that she will take a decision before the monsoon session of Parliament, beginning on August 1, on 13 Telangana MPs who have submitted their resignation.

Two Rajya Sabha MPs from the region too have submitted their resignations to Chairman Hamid Ansari. Accusing Congress of playing politics over Telangana, Nadda said "Congress has never been serious about Telangana."

In Hyderabad, BJP spokesperson V Srinivasa Raju alleged the resignations of Congress members were a farce and a drama enacted to mislead the people of Andhra and Telanga regions. He claimed that even after resigning, Congress leaders were occupying ministerial and other positions and continued to discharge duties. Assembly Speaker Nadlendla Manohar has said he would like to meet the legislators personally before taking a decision on their resignations.

He said he would also consult constitutional experts on the matter. Over 100 MLAs from Telangana region have resigned demanding a new state. Manohar had said on Sunday that he was in the US and had just landed in Delhi for the Saarc conference. BJP had demanded that the government come out with a bill seeking to create Telangana in the first week of the monsoon session.