Ministers stir Telangana cauldron - Quit worry for state backers

Hyderabad, Dec. 12: A separate state of Telangana yet looks distant with as many as 20 cabinet ministers voicing their intent to resign, their threat clouding the fate of the Andhra Pradesh government and landing statehood supporters in a bind as political uncertainty could push back the process.

Chief minister K. Rosaiah has asked the ministers, all from the Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions, to hold on to their resignations till 2pm tomorrow, by when he has promised to tell them what the Congress high command had advised.

The group of 20 said they wanted to show solidarity with their fellow legislators who have submitted resignations to Speaker Kiran Kumar Reddy in protest against the Centre's announcement that the process for a separate Telangana would be initiated. At least four more MLAs sent in their letters today, taking the number to 140.

If the 20 ministers do indeed resign, the cabinet will be left with only 13 members, all from Telangana, who too have threatened to quit if the statehood resolution is not introduced soon. Rosaiah, a member of the legislative council, is from the coastal district of Guntur.

Representatives of the non-Telangana ministers led by Dharmana Prasada Rao called on Rosaiah once in the afternoon and again in the evening. "On the chief minister's request, we decided to defer the decision for resignation by a day. But we will sit again tomorrow and take a final call," Prasada Rao said.

Later in the evening, Rosaiah said he had not been able to contact either Congress president Sonia Gandhi or finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, the party's prime firefighter who has tackled many a crisis. Rosaiah then requested time till 2pm tomorrow.

Mukherjee, who was at Barasat in Bengal, made it clear Telangana was an old movement and could not be equated with other statehood demands. "The Telangana movement is going on for the last 60 years. But it does not mean that everywhere new states are going to be created," he said.

The wave of resignations in Andhra has taken the Telangana supporters by surprise. The upheaval has meant that the statehood resolution, necessary for a bill to be introduced in Parliament, is yet to be tabled in the Assembly. Rosaiah, who has sought to distance himself from the Centre's announcement, made by home minister P. Chidambaram, has said a resolution is unlikely to be tabled in the current session.

The uncertainty — and fears of a distant possibility of President's rule should the government be reduced to a minority because of the resignations — has tempered the initial euphoria that greeted Chidambaram's stunning declaration.

A delay in tabling the resolution could again bury the issue that had gained momentum in the last few weeks. Political observers pointed to a similar situation in 1969, when the Telangana movement had erupted and led to a constitutional breakdown, resulting in President's rule. The issue subsided over the months and was put on the backburner.

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the flag-bearer of the movement, signalled it was willing to scale down the tempo by desisting from putting a time frame to statehood. TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao, whose 10-day fast had forced the Centre's hand, told a TV news channel: "We are not in a hurry over the timing of the resolution. We are ready to wait."

Rao, who had started his fast on November 29, left the NIMS hospital today and went back home in a victory rally.