It was joy in Telangana as Lok Sabha passed the historic Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013 while those opposed to the bifurcation of the state described it as a black day. Today this bill is tabled in Rajya Sabha, and AP became standstill with bandh call given by anti-telanganites and chief minister is submitting his resignation in protest of telangana.
Earlier, the Lok Sabha resembled a battlefield as a determined Congress decided to pass the Telangana Bill. While paramilitary forces kept vigil outside Parliament, inside a ring was formed around party chief Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde by Congress members Mahabal Mishra, Sanjay Nirupam, Lal Singh, Aaron Rashid and Kamal Kishore.
In a rare show of unity, CPI(M) and TMC members protested the bill alongside Congress ministers from Seemandhra region even as DMK and JD-U legislators staged a walk out.
"It was an unprecedented development in the history of Lok Sabha and it is all because one woman - Sonia Gandhi - wanted to do it flouting all democratic norms and traditions," thundered YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.
He has called for a shutdown across the 13 Seemandhra districts on Wednesday when the contentious bill will be considered by Rajya Sabha. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is to demit office and, possibly, quit the Congress in protest over the bifurcation, is to brief the media on Wednesday morning before he calls on Governor ESL Narasimhan to hand over his resignation letter.
Kiran Reddy has spoken out against the Congress high command in recent weeks since the time the draft Telangana Bill was sent for the views of the state legislative assembly. As soon as the bill was passed in Lok Sabha, TRS members K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Vijayashanti raised their hands in the air while Congress MP Ponnam Prabhakar was seen touching the feet of Sonia as she was leaving the House.
But the mood was grim back home with Andhra Pradesh Infrastructure Minister G. Srinivasa Rao announcing his resignation from the Cabinet and the Congress party on Tuesday. "The party has lost all respect for democratic practices and turned authoritarian," Rao said. Rao is an influential leader in north coastal Andhra. He was elected in 2009 from Anakapalle in Visakhapatnam district on the ticket of Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party, which later merged with the Congress. Union Minister of State for Human resource Development, D. Purandeshwari, also sent in her resignation to Sonia.
More resignations are likely to follow and with dwindling support, the party is expected to face near total rout in the 2014 General Elections in the Seemandhra region. The party, though, hopes to salvage its electoral prospects by announcing a hefty financial package to help build the new capital of Seemandhra region.
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