Telangana: Seemandhra MPs plan to topple UPA Govt

New Delhi, July 29: At least 15 out of 19 Congress Lok Sabha MPs from Andhra and Rayalaseema region may resign from the post and party on Tuesday.

The decision to give en-masse resignation was reportedly taken in the meeting of Seemandhra MPs held at union minister Pallam Raju’s residence here late Tuesday night. Union Minister Kavuri Sambasiva Rao, JD Seelam, KVP Ramchandra Rao, Lagadapati Rajagopal and K Bapiraju were among the MPs who attended the meeting. According to sources, the MPs, in principle, have decided to put in their papers if the party High Command refuses to defer the decision Telangana.

The MPs will meet again on Tuesday morning at the residence of K Bapiraju to take the final decision. A few MPs were of the opinion that their continuance with the Congress party was meaningless if they could not convince the High Command against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Therefore, they are now planning to topple the UPA Government if it decides in favour of Telangana.

After the DMK pulled out of the UPA in March this year, its strength was reduced to 242 from 260. However, with the outside support of SP (22), BSP (21) and RJD (4) the Congress-led coalition had more strength than the magic number of 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha. The Seemandhra MPs are now planning to use the same equations in their favour to halt Telangana. Congress has 19 members from Andhra and Rayalaseema region. If other six members from the region support them and Samajwadi Party, which is against Telangana, extends a helping hand, then the survival of UPA-Government at the Centre would be difficult.

Although it would be premature to predict that the Seemandhra MPs would go to the extent of toppling the Congress-led Government, some MPs gave clear indications that they might go any extent to prevent division of Andhra Pradesh.