Centre may impose President`s Rule in Andhra

With AP continuing to be in turmoil over Telangana, the Centre may impose President’s Rule there.

Zeenews Bureau

Hyderabad: With Andhra Pradesh continuing to be in turmoil over the Telangana issue, it is likely that the Central government may impose President’s Rule in the southern state to cool tempers down.

On Saturday, 20 ministers from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions decided to resign from the Cabinet in protests against the creation of a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh.

Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who has just completed a turbulent 100 days in office after the death of YSR Reddy, reportedly pleaded before the ministers to continue and instead promised to himself step down.

If the 20 ministers quit, Rosaiah will have to step down as there will be no government left then. So his announcement is being seen as an attempt to make an honourable exit amid the tussle over the creation of a separate Telangana state.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who is currently visiting her constituency Rae Bareli, has not been able to fully focus on the crisis. It is expected that once she takes stock of the situation, Rosaiah will get the go-ahead to step down. The state Assembly would then be placed under suspended animation and President’s Rule imposed.

The Andhra Cabinet has 34 members in the Council of Ministers, including the Chief Minister. Of them, 20 hail from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions while 13 are from Telangana. The 20 non-Telangana ministers on Saturday met and decided to step down.

"We have decided to put in our papers as the UPA government announced going ahead on the process of creating Telangana without consulting the other affected parties. Besides, there is tremendous pressure on us to quit from our respective constituencies," Municipal Administration Minister Ramnarayana Reddy said.

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