Andhra Pradesh CM Kiran quits, also leaves Cong

N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday resigned from the post of the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh and as the MLA of Pileru as well as from the Congress.

Governor E S L Narasimhan has accepted Kiran’s resignation. Besides recommending the dissolution of the Assembly, Reddy, who ruled for three years and three months, also informed Narasimhan that he cannot continue as the caretaker chief minister.

While addressing the press before meeting the Governor, Reddy was flanked by his supporters, including eight ministers who have already resigned– Pithani Satyanarayana, S Sailjanath, M Mahidhar Reddy, T G Venkatesh, Kasu Venkata Krishna Reddy, Erasu Pratap Reddy, K Parthasarathy and Ganta Sreenivasa Rao – and 18 MLAs and five MLCs.

“I oppose the bifurcation of the state. Both regions are bound to face umpteen troubles even after division. For 58 years, many inter linkages have developed, so, there will be skirmishes every year between people of both the states,” he said. “Since the Congress Working Committee’s decision, there were several errors committed. The Telangana Bill was not given sufficient time, the establishment of GoM and sending draft bill to Assembly are all full of mistakes.”