Kiran Reddy resigns as AP CM, quits Congress party, but silent on new party

Hyderabad: Biting the bullet, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday resigned as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and quit Congress to protest Centre's decision to carve out separate state of Telangana, giving jitters to the ruling party in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.

Reddy, who had tried to thwart division of Andhra Pradesh by ensuring rejection of the Telangana bill by the legislature, submitted his resignation to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, which was accepted.

Kiran: From hand-picked CM to rebel

Flaying the manner in which the decision on Telangana was carried out by Congress and the Centre, Reddy also quit as MLA, capping weeks of public defiance as a result of which he burnt bridges with the party's national leadership.

The 53-year-old leader, who was widely speculated to form a new party was, however, evasive on the issue.

"My party or my future is not important. My fight is to keep the state united and the people will suffer because of division," he said when asked if he would float a new party.

Speculation was rife that the state may be headed for a spell of President's Rule.

"I am thankful to Congress for making me Chief Minister. But, I am resigning in protest as they have divided the state and hurt the Telugu people and made their future dark. I am quitting as MLA and the Congress party," he said.

Speaking to TV channels, Kiran apologised to Telugu people and added that he is 'sorry for not being able to stop the division of Andhra Pradesh'.

Accompanied by some Ministers and MLAs, he later drove to Raj Bhavan and tendered his resignation to the Governor nd requested him to make alternative arrangements at the earliest as he had no inclination to continue even in a caretaker capacity.

Maintaining that the state was being divided 'by throwing all norms to the wind', he lashed out at Congress and BJP, which on Tuesday supported the passage of Telangana bill in the Lok Sabha, besides TRS, saying they did so in quest of 'votes and seats'.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy announcing his resignation at a press conference in Hyderabad on Wednesday - PTI

"This is not an easy decision...I have taken it with a lot of pain that I could not save (unity of) Telugu people," he told a crowded press conference at his camp office.

"Though I offered to resign the day (July 30, 2013) the CWC decided to bifurcate AP, I continued because Sonia Gandhi asked me to," he said, adding, "I stayed on to fight against the bifurcation till the end".

"My conscience does not permit me to continue as Chief Minister any longer. Hence, I hereby, tender my resignation as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. I request you to kindly accept the same with immediate effect," he wrote in the resignation letter.

"The decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, the first linguistic state in the country, unsupported by any policy, for no stated reason, rejected by the state legislature, without following any conventions, laid-out procedures and not in conformity with the Constitutional provisions is patently arbitrary, unreasonable and unconstitutional, more so in the absence of any consensus among the people of the state," Kiran said in his resignation letter.

He also flayed the Centre and Lok Sabha for showing 'disrespect' to the state, its legislature and people.

"I am disillusioned with the disrespect the Union Government and Lok Sabha had shown to the State, its Legislature and the people by suspending public representatives from Andhra Pradesh and not providing an opportunity to any one of them to express their views. The manner in which the bill was passed by the Lok Sabha reflects the new depths to which our Parliamentary Institutions have sunk in," he said.

Recalling his family's loyalty to Congress over decades, Reddy said it was a painful decision for him to quit the party. Highlighting that Andhra Pradesh had made rapid strides in all spheres of development since its formation 58 years ago, Reddy said the decision to divide the state would badly hurt all sections of people.

Reddy, who held an unprecedented protest at Jantar Mantar earlier this month against bifurcation, alleged that established principles of democracy were violated at various stages in the process of creating the new state.

Union Ministers were not even given adequate time to even read the Cabinet note for bifurcation when the matter was taken up for approval, he alleged.

Referring to the Legislative Assembly rejecting the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, he wondered how was it justified to take up a bill rejected by the House.

He also took strong exception to the way in which the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha with live telecast blocked and MPs from Seemandhra suspended.

Asked how his resignation would now help the cause of a united Andhra Pradesh, he said he stepped down to protest against the decision to divide the state, the way the bill was dealt with in Parliament and the 'defective' nature of the legislation.

According to a minister in the cabinet, Reddy would like to take a decision over his future course of action in consultation with other leaders.

"He (Reddy) said you get back after consultations...He also said 'I have seen enough life'," T G Venkatesh, who was minister for Minor Irrigation, told reporters here amid intense speculation that Kiran is likely to form a new party after resigning from his post.