Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy on Saturday approved the resignations of six Telangana Rashtra Samithi ministers from his cabinet.
Though five TRS ministers had submitted their resignations to Governor Sushil Kumar Shinde on July 4 and another TRS minister had handed over his resignation on July 13, Dr Reddy communicated his 'advice' to the governor to accept the resignations of the six TRS ministers in a letter late on Saturday night. Consequently, the governor accepted the resignations.
The TRS ministers who quit are: Dr A Chandrasekhar (Minor Irrigation), T Harish Rao (Youth Services), V Lakshmikantha Rao (Backward Classes Welfare), Nayini Narasimha Reddy (Technical Education), S Santosh Reddy (Transport) and G Vijayarama Rao (Civil Supplies).
It may be recalled that TRS president and Union Labour Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had decided to pull out TRS ministers from the AP Cabinet to protest against anti-Telangana decisions and actions taken by the Dr Reddy government in the last 14 months.
Dr Reddy, who went on a three-nation, week-long tour on the day the TRS ministers submitted their resignations, had told the governor that he would get back to him later with his decision. He returned to the state capital on July 12 and wrote to the governor only on Sunday.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had asked Rao to reconsider the resignations of TRS ministers. However, the governor remained firm on the decision.
Consequently, All India Congress Committee general secretary incharge of AP affairs Digvijay Singh is understood to have given the green signal to Dr Reddy to accept the TRS resignations.
The acceptance of resignations of TRS ministers comes two days ahead of the public meeting convened by TRS at Warangal on July 18 to inform the people about the reasons for the withdrawal of TRS ministers from Dr Reddy's cabinet.
Dr Reddy and Rao are scheduled to meet on July 20 in New Delhi to discuss issues raised by TRS with regard to Telangana.
Lakshmikantha Rao, Harish Rao and their colleagues welcomed the acceptance of their resignations. "We were constrained to openly oppose the anti-Telangana decisions of the Dr Reddy regime. Now, we are totally free to oppose all such decisions tooth-and-nail," Harish Rao, who is also a nephew of the TRS boss, said.
"We will fight more vigorously for the cause of separate Telangana. Nobody can create obstacles in our way. We will achieve our goal of Telangana state and are prepared to make any sacrifices," he said.
