Wednesday, July 13 2005 17:41 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Hyderabad: After a brief spell of defiance, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Minister in Andhra Pradesh S Santhosh Reddy has fallen in line with his party's directive and quit the Congress-led Government today (July 13, 2005), ten days after his colleagues' exit.

Reddy, who holds transport portfolio, met Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and handed over the resignation letter to him.

The TRS, a pre-poll ally of the ruling Congress and a partner in the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) Government at the Centre, had pulled out of the Rajasekhar Reddy Government on July 4 with the resignation of five TRS Ministers on Telangana issue.

Though the sub-regional party had made scathing attack on Reddy accusing him of pursuing 'anti-Telangana policies', it chose to continue in the UPA Government, apparently to mount pressure on the Centre to expedite the process of formation of Telangana State.

Santhosh Reddy, a former Congressman from Nizamabad district, had initially refused to toe the party line, terming it as unilateral. Later, he went to Delhi and held consultations with the party's founder President and Union Labour Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

"I wanted to wait for Chief Minister to return (from his week-long foreign tour). There is no question of staying in the Government against my party high command's wish," he told reporters here.

However, unlike his party colleagues who had launched a tirade against Chief Minister dubbing him as 'enemy of Telangana', he showered praises on Rajasekhar Reddy for striving to develop the backward Telangana region.