Suspended Congress MPs protest over separate Telangana state in Delhi

New Delhi, Apr 26 (ANI): Suspended Lok Sabha lawmakers of the Congress Party from Andhra Pradesh continued to demand the formation of a separate Telangana state, shouting anti-government slogans inside the parliament premises on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters here, Congress lawmaker Manda Jagannadham held the government responsible for the increasing number of youth and students committing suicide over the demand of statehood for Telangana.

"We the members of Parliament from Telangana region have been struggling, demanding for the creation of separate state of Telangana since the announcement made on December of 2009. Well, because of various reasons the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government, of which are part, have gone back. Because of this the youth and the students are committing suicides," said Jagannadham.

Lashing out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jagannadham criticised the dual nature of the party in resolving the issue.

"We condemn the dual nature of the BJP because when they say that they are for separate Telangana, when the Telangana Congress MPs were behaving, I mean sent out of the house, they did not raise any voice ... (sic) as the NCP (Nationalist Congress Party), DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), Trinamool Congress, they walked away. So, it shows dual nature of BJP also. Their sincere efforts are doubtful," added Jagannadham.

Another suspended lawmaker Ponnam Prabhakar said that they were determined to continue their struggle for separate state of Telangana.

"We are continuing our struggle for the formation of Telangana. Though we were being suspended we never care, we never fear. We are for the people and we are for the implementation of this Telangana. Wherever we are using the platform of the parliament and we are saying our demand, protesting our demand for formation of Telangana in the interest of the party in order to protect the parliamentary democracy," said Prabhakar.

The Lok Sabha, on Tuesday, suspended eight Congress MPs for four days over repeatedly disrupting the House proceedings over the Telangana statehood issue.

The demand for a separate state of Telangana which was merged with Andhra Pradesh in 1956, is over fifty years old. (ANI)