Telangana Ministers to Withdraw Resignations
All the 13 Congress ministers from Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh who had stepped down on separate statehood demand have decided to withdraw their resignation after central government announced to hold discussions with political parties in the state.
“We are satisfied with the decision of the Centre to initiate the process of discussions (with 8 recognised political parties).
“We met APCC President D Srinivas who asked us to withdraw the resignation. We have decided to withdraw our resignation,” Information Minister Geeta Reddy told reporters after the meeting.
The move came a day after Union Home Minister P Chidambaram sent an invitation to leaders of 8 political parties of the state for a discussion in Delhi on January 5 on the Telangana statehood issue.
The ministers had resigned after Chidambaram’s announcement on December 23 putting the Telangana issue on hold and saying that the Centre would commence wide ranging discussions on the issue.
On December 9, he had announced that the procession of formation of separate Telangana state would be initiated. Earlier on Dec 9, he had announced that the process for Telangana state would be initiated, opening a Pandora ’s Box.
Reddy said that the ministers had last week represented to the Congress leadership and “we never expected that they will respond so quickly”.
She thanked Congress President Sonia Gandhi and other senior leaders including Pranab Mukherjee and Ahmed Patel for the Centre’s initiative.
