The pro-Telangana campaign today assumed new dimensions with 37 ruling Congress MLAs, including four ministers, and 28 TDP MLAs from the region resigning their membership of the Andhra Pradesh assembly.

In Delhi, seven Congress MPs, who had planned to resign from the Lok Sabha, did not keep their scheduled meeting with speaker Meira Kumar who waited for some time before leaving her chamber.

Four Andhra Pradesh ministers K Jana Reddy, J Geeta Reddy, Ponnala Lakshmaiah and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy submitted resignations from the membership of state assembly today demanding immediate creation of Telangana state. They submitted their resignations to assembly deputy speaker at 12 noon.

The Congress has 50 MLAs from the region in the 294-member assembly. As many as 28 Telugu Desam Party MLAs from Telangana submitted resignation from their posts demanding creation of a separate state.

Three Congress MLAs, including a rebel, too submitted their resignations on the same issue. The TDP legislators met Andhra Pradesh assembly deputy speaker Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and submitted their resignations en masse.

Five other TDP MLAs from Telangana could not submit their resignations as they were in the US to attend the Telugu Association of North America conference. Three TDP rebel MLAs had put in their papers yesterday along with suspended MLA Nagam Janardhana Reddy.

Congress rebel MLA Konda Surekha, who is currently sailing with YSR Congress party, submitted her resignation to the deputy speaker in line with the decision taken by Telangana legislators demanding creation of a separate state.

Congress MLA from Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad P Vishnuvardhan Reddy also submitted his resignation to the deputy speaker on the statehood issue but his letter was said to be not in the prescribed format. One more Congress MLA, who was touring the US, faxed his resignation to the deputy speaker.

After submitting her resignation Surekha demanded that Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao and Medak MP Vijayasanthi also quit their posts within 48 hours.

The eight MPs -- Ponnam Prabhakar, G S Reddy, M Jagannath, S Rajaiah, P Balram Nayak, G Vivekananda and K Rajagopal Reddy (all Lok Sabha) and K Keshav Rao (Rajya Sabha), came to Parliament about 20 minutes late for their appointment. The speaker had left minutes before their arrival saying "they did not keep their appointment".

Keshav Rao said that Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari has told him that he could meet him anytime at his residence.

While Congress has a total of 12 MPs from the Telangana region in both the houses, those who were not present included Madhu Yakshi Goud and Suresh Shetkar. Goud is reportedly in the US, while Shetkar's mother is unwell.

All the MPs made it clear that they want to resign from the membership of Parliament but not from the Congress party.The MPs said they were seeking fresh appointment from the speaker.

Meanwhile, AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, in-charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh, said he has requested the aggrieved legislators to come for another round of talks.

"The MPs are already here. I am expecting some representative of the MLAs to reach here," Azad said.

The Telangana Congress MLAs and ministers had a two-hour meeting at the residence of Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj minister K Jana Reddy in the wake of the intervention by the party's central leadership.

"We are going ahead with our resignation," Congress MLAs T Rajaya and others said emerging out of the meeting.The meeting was attended by over 15 MLAs and nine ministers.