Telangana leaders return without any assurance from Centre

With absolutely no assurance on the Telangana statehood issue from the Union government, all Telangana leaders from the Congress are headed back to Hyderabad. Visibly upset they said that they did not expect this from the Centre and they would continue fighting until the main goal is achieved.

Ram Reddy Damodar Reddy, one of the members of legislative assembly from the Congress, who also resigned, informed that the issue does not end here. We have waited a long time and we expected some result from the Union government. Suggestions were made but we got no assurance from them.

There is no question of withdrawing our resignations. Our protest against the union government will continue. We will not settle for anything less than a bill regarding Telangana in Parliament, said Reddy.

"The only thing in all our minds is the formation of Telangana. We do not care if the government falls or President's rule is imposed; all that does not matter any longer to us," he said.

While the members of Parliament from the Congress have gone back to Hyderabad, the MLAs and the ministers are scheduled to reach by 3.30 pm on Wednesday. They will take part in the ongoing protest and meetings are already on to chalk out the future course of action.

In addition to this, they would pressurise the speaker, who is set to return on July 12, to accept their resignations and not delay the process any further.

Meanwhile, Home Minister P Chidambaram said in New Delhi that they had no plan of imposing President's rule in Andhra Pradesh. The Congress is upset about the resignations and we hope to engage in talks and discussions with these leaders. It is a delicate situation and we hope law and order is maintained he said.

Meanwhile, the bandh, which entered into the second day, has brought the entire city of Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana to a standstill. All schools remained closed and entrance examinations to Osmania University, where the students are protesting, have also been postponed.

At New Delhi, the representatives of the government continued to hold meetings trying to chalk out ways to tide over the crisis. At the moment it appears that they would have no option but to introduce a bill in Parliament since all the MLAs seem to be adamant.