From a gram panchayat ward member to a member of Parliament, elected representatives at different levels of the political pyramid, cutting across party lines, have resigned from their posts in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions to protest the 'unilateral decision' of the Congress to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.
Scores of panchayat ward members, sarpanches, mandal parishad territorial constituency members, mandal parishad presidents, zilla parishad territorial constituency members, municipal councilors, municipal chairpersons, municipal corporation corporators, mayors, zilla parishad chiefs, Members of Legislative Assembly, Members of Legislative Council and MPs belonging to the Congress, Telugu Desam Party and Praja Rajyam have put in their papers.
Ministers, both at the Central and state level, hailing from the region, haven't yet decided on their resignations, despite mounting pressure from their respective regions for them to follow in the footsteps of fellow legislators.
While the number of MPs who have resigned from their posts is five (two Congress and three TDP), the number of MLAs touched 130, including 76 from the Congress, 40 from the TDP and 14 from the PRP.
As many as 34 members of the state Legislative Council have also tendered their resignation, strongly denouncing the Centre's move to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.
The first salvo was fired by Lagadapati Rajagopal, Congress Lok Sabha member from Vijayawada, the 'political capital' of Andhra Pradesh. Senior MLAs and former ministers J C Diwakar Reddy and D L Ravindra Reddy also resigned propmtly.
The resignation spree then spread like wildfire as other MLAs and MLCs, belonging to different parties from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, followed suit. Taking a cue from the MPs and the MLAs, Vijayawada city Mayor M Ratnabindu quit her post, even as more than 25 corporators of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation too joined the protest.
Mayors of Rajahmundry, Kakinada, Kadapa and Guntur cities, chairperson of Anantapur Zilla Parishad and heads of various other local bodies too tendered their resignations. The spate of resignations is only increasing as more elected representatives are putting in their papers individually, claim reports from different regions.
