Meira Kumar rejects resignation of 12 Telangana MPs

Resignations of 12 MPs from Telangana region including TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao were rejected by Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar on Tuesday, raising the spectre of a fresh turmoil in Parliament over the statehood issue. The resignations were "not accepted" by the speaker as they were not in proper format, Parliament sources said.The MPs included eight from Congress and two each from TRS and TDP. They had resigned en masse on July four to press for separate Telangana.[caption id="attachment_131841" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="The speaker found that the resignations were not as per a rule which stipulates that the resignation should be in a certain format and a member doing so shall not give any reason for the resignation.Reuters"][/caption]The decision by the speaker came just a week before the winter session of Parliament and a day after Congress MPs from the region decided to raise the issue of separate Telangana in the session."We will not allow Parliament to function until the Centre and the Congress high command announce their decision" on the statehood issue, Keshava Rao had announced after the meeting of party MPs in Hyderabad.Parliament sources said that the speaker found that the resignations were not as per a rule which stipulates that the resignation should be in a certain format and a member doing so shall not give any reason for the resignation.The Congress MPs whose resignations were rejected by the speaker are Ponnam Prabhakar, GS Reddy, M Jagannath, S Rajaiah, P Balram Nayak, G Vivekanand, Suresh Shetkar and Madhu Goud Yakshi.The others whose resignation was rejected are TDP MPs, Ramesh Rathod and Namma Nageswara Rao, and TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao and party MP Vijayashanti.Parliament sources said that some of these MPs had attended the committee meetings even after tendering their resignations while others have put up questions and some have even attended the house.The resignations of two MPs KRG Reddy and M Rajmohan Reddy are still under examination of the Speaker. Rajmohan Reddy who has been a Congress member had joined the YSR Congress.In the Rajya Sabha, chairman Hamid Ansari is yet to take a view on the resignation of Congress member K Keshav Rao, sources said.PTI