HYDERABAD: Four rebel legislators of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) quit the outfit Wednesday to protest its ambiguous stand on the demand for separate statehood to Telangana.
Nagam Janardhan Reddy, who was suspended from the party in May this year, told reporters that he and three of his supporters K. Harishwar Reddy, S. Venugopalachary and Jogu Ramanna sent separate letters to TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, resigning from the primary membership of the party.
Their move comes amid reports that Janardhan Reddy plans to float a new party to fight for separate Telangana state.
The lawmakers last month submitted their fresh resignations to assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar Reddy after he rejected the resignations of 101 legislators of various parties from the region. They are also pressing the speaker to accept the resignations. Janardhan Reddy, a senior leader and former minister, had raised the banner of revolt against Naidu a few months ago by demanding that he extend support for the separate Telangana state.
Earlier, TDP legislator P. Srinivas Reddy resigned from the assembly and joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).