Telangana: 7 Andhra Congress MPs to submit resignations to Sonia today

New Delhi: The Telangana protests are set to get louder in the national capital on Wednesday as seven Congress MPs will be arriving in Delhi this morning and are expected to hand over their letters of resignation to Sonia Gandhi.

Protests have been on by leaders of the region and students of Osmania University who have been rallying for a separate statehood. Two fresh complaints have been filed in local courts against Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and his predecessor P Chidambaram and Sonia Gandhi accusing them of cheating the people of Telangana. The UPA missed its 28th January deadline reigniting fresh protests.

Several members of the Osmania University Joint Action Committee were taken into custody after they, along with some belonging to other organisations, pulled down barricades in their bid to hold a protest march from Indira Park to Gun Park against alleged delay in creation of a separate Telangana state. Police contingents, deployed in large numbers, pushed the agitators back and rounded up several protesters, official sources said.

Protests have been on by leaders of the region and students of Osmania University who have been rallying for a separate statehood.

A group of pro-Telangana students were also reported to have forcefully entered the chamber of Vice-Chancellor of Kakatiya University in Warangal and threatened to set themselves on fire. The Vice-Chancellor was, however, not in his chambers when the protest happened, police said. Protests are likely to continue in Hyderabad on Tuesday and students from the Osmania University are expected to hold protests in the region.

The government has also got into the trouble for allegedly not fulfilling its promise on the Telangana issue. On Monday, the Ranga Reddy district court admitted a petition against Union Home Minister Shinde and his predecessor P Chidambaram for allegedly cheating the people of Telangana. After an all-party meeting in Delhi on Telangana issue on December 28, 2012, Shinde had said a decision would be made within a month. But on Sunday, the Home Minister announced that the government needed more time to reach to a final decision as the consultation process was still on.

On December 9, 2009, the then home minister Chidambaram had announced that the process to create Telangana state would be initiated with moving of a resolution in the state assembly. However, as protests mounted against the proposed bifurcation of the state in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, Chidambaram had said on December 23, 2009 that the Central government wanted to consider "all views" on the demand for a separate Telangana state and that "peace and tranquility should be maintained".

With additional information from PTI

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)