Only a constitutional and political crisis can ensure the formation of Telangana, K Chandrasekar Rao, the Chief of the Telangana Rasthriya Samiti said in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
His were the opening remarks at the Telangana Joint Action Committee meeting that was held on Tuesday to decide on the next course of action to be taken towards the formation of a separate state.
While it was decided that all MLAs and other representatives would tender their resignations on January 18, there was confusion prevailing among the Congress leaders.
All hell broke lose when the Congress MLAs said they were willing to tender their resignations but were unable to do so at the time that was specified at the JAC meeting.
This remark angered the rest of the leaders who told them point blank that they could do without them and it was not correct on their part to seek time when it was the need of the hour to stand united on the issue.
Some of the Congress leaders who were upset with the remarks staged a walk out, but were pacified by JAC chairperson Professor Kodand Ram. He convinced them to return to the meeting and he is now holding talks with the leaders in order to come to a consensus.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the Telugu Desam Party, TRS, Bharatiya Janata Party and also the Praja Rajyam Party, hailing from the Telangana region, agreed to submit their resignations on January 18.
KCR said he is tired of speaking to the Union government about this issue. "The response from New Delhi has not been good. We have no option but to create a constitutional and political crisis in the state so that our demands are met. We will go the Speaker on January 18, hand over our resignations and also convince him to admit it so that there is a crisis and our voices are heard."
"The issue pertaining to Telangana is a simple one, but the Andhra lobby, which is very strong is complicating matters. The time is to stand united and not fight this battle on the basis of the political parties we belong to. It is time to keep all our flags aside and fight this issue holding the Telangana flag high," he said.
Mohammed Siddique adds from Hyderabad: "We have reached a conclusion that creating a political crisis in the state is the only way to force the hands of central government to from Telangana state", said Prof Kodanda Ram, convenor of the JAC.
Though almost all the Telangana MLAs of Congress, TDP, TRS, PRP and BJP have already announced their resignations, they were yet to be accepted by the Speaker N Kiran Kumar Reddy.
The JAC discussed the issue of when and how to force the Speakers to accept their resignations. There were differences among the leaders of different parties on the date of meeting Speaker on the issue. TRS president K C Rao announced that his party leaders will meet the Speaker on January 18 while TDP wants to do it a day later as January 18 was the death anniversary of party founder N T Rama Rao. Congress legislators were demanding more time as they were under tremendous pressure from the party high command to withdraw their resignations.
Senior Congress leaders former ministers K Jana Reddy and R Damodar Reddy reiterated that there was no question of Congress legislators going back on their resignation and they will abide by the decision of the JAC and were ready to make any sacrifices.
However Jana Reddy underlined the need for moving cautiously as a hasty decision can be counter productive as it may lead to imposition of president's rule in the state.
"If we make hasty decisions, it may lead to the imposition of President's Rule and the police force will be used against agitators. Then I will not be able to do any thing nor you will be able to come to me and say some thing", Jana Reddy said.
The meeting witnessed noisy and chaotic scenes for half an hour when Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti president Manda Krishna Madiga made some provocative remarks against Congress and Telugu Desam parties and their leaders Sonia Gandhi and N Chandrababu Naidu. When he alleged that the Congress was trying to put the issue of Telangana in cold storage, and the TDP leader was also trying the same thing, angry leaders of Congress and TDP stood up in anger and threatened to stage a walk out from the meeting hall.
There was a complete pandemonium both on the dais and in the hall with protestors of MRPS and workers of political parties shouting slogans against each other.
Madiga announced that if the central government does not start the process of formation of Telangana by January 18, his organisation will start protests in every village of the region.
Swami Goud, president Telangana Non Gazetted Officers Union said that there was no need for all the parties to agree before pressing the acceptance of their resignations. "Even if TDP, TRS, PRP and BJP legislators force the Speaker to accept their resignations, it will force the Congress to follow suit", he said.
"The movement MLAS' resignations are accepted, all the government employees of Telangana region will also start pen down strike and continue their protest till Telangana state is formed", he said.
Hamid Mohammed Khan of Jamat-e-Islami Hind said that all the Muslims of Telangana region were in favour of a separate Telangana to put an end to the injustice and exploitation faced by the region of Telangana for the last 52 years.
However the strategy of JAC to create a political crisis through resignations suffered a setback as the last remaining two ministers from Telangana K Venkat Reddy and D Sridhar Babu withdrew their resignations from the cabinet.
The two had so far steadfastly refused to withdraw their resignations till the process for the formation of Telangana state begins while the other 11 Telangana ministers had taken back their resignations.
The two ministers gave in after the party high command sent them a direction to withdraw the resignations to help restore normalcy in the state. The Pradesh Congress committee president D Srinivas also persuaded them to withdraw the resignation.
Sridhar Babu, minister for higher education told the media that they decided to withdraw the resignation as they were confident that the Centre will start the process of formation of Telangana state.
"We will continue our fight from Telangana from with in the government", he said.
