The twist in the T drama

DESARAJU SURYA

Hyderabad: There was a rather unexpected change in the script of the resignation drama by Telangana legislators today.

The drama was enacted yesterday as per the script, written and directed by separatist leader K Chandrasekhar Rao, but the play began drifting since midnight when he himself was forced to jump into the act.

Though not in the original script, the second part too had to be played out today with new players coming in.

After the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party MLAs tendered resignations from their posts yesterday, Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao himself decided to jump into the battlefield and promptly faxed his resignation to Lok Sabha Speaker in the middle of the night.

By day break, his fellow MP Vijayasanthi too followed suit while state Minister P Shankar Rao, who was on a trip to the US, also faxed his resignation to the Assembly Deputy Speaker.

The entire act was supposed to cause tremors in New Delhi so that it breaks the ground for Telangana. But, the impact turned out to be low in intensity.

With clear indications emanating from New Delhi that the Government of India was in no mood to concede the demand for a separate state anytime now, jittery TRS legislators too started making their moves towards resignation.

Around the same time, the Communist Party of India MLAs too mulled over the resignations while the Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs got the go ahead from their national leadership to quit.

In quick succession, the TRS and the CPI MLAs took their turns in submitting their resignations to the Legislature Secretary in the absence of House Speaker and Deputy Speaker.

The head count rose to 98 with all these legislators, including 12 ministers, putting in their papers demanding nothing but a separate Telangana state.

The two BJP MLAs completed the formality late in the evening and took the count to an exact 100, out of the total 119 from the region.

While 10 of the 19 left out belonged to the Congress, seven were from the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and one each from the CPM and the Lok Satta Party. The MIM, CPM and Lok Satta, incidentally, are known supporters of a unified Andhra Pradesh.

As the drama continues, one question that crosses the mind is: "What would be the climax?"

Now, whether the drama ends in a climax -- as the script-writer wished -- or in an anti-climax is the "suspense" element in this sordid tale.