Hyderabad:
Ahead of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy's meeting with leaders opposed to the bifurcation of the state, pro-Telangana leaders met him this morning and requested him to not allow protests and "political forces" to work against the formation of the new state.
The meeting came a day after seven Congress MPs resigned in protest against the split of the state. Under pressure due to massive demonstrations in their constituencies, many other Congress leaders, mainly from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, have also threatened to quit.
Among those who had warned of resigning were four central ministers from the state - Human Resource Development Minister Pallam Raju and Ministers of State Purandeswari, JD Seelam and Killi Kruparani. They were however persuaded by party leader Digvijaya Singh to rethink their decision. Earlier, the Congress managed to bring around nine of the 14 state ministers who had threatened to resign.
Yesterday, the ministers said they agreed to backtrack after they were assured that a high level panel would be set up to address concerns of people in coastal and southern Andhra Pradesh, collectively referred as Seemandhra.
Leaders from the area will meet the chief minister this evening.
The Congress has 33 MPs from Andhra Pradesh, 19 of them from Seemandhra.