Kiran Reddy mulls new party with expelled Congress MPs

Hyderabad, Feb 23:

caretaker Chief Minister N.

on Sunday held talks with six MPs expelled from the

and state ministers loyal to him to chalk out his future course of action.

Kiran Reddy, who last week resigned as chief minister and from the Congress to protest the bifurcation of the state, discussed his reported plans to float a new political party in the Seemandhra region.

L. Rajagopal, Sabbam Hari, V. Arun Kumar, Sai Pratap, Harsha Kumar and R. Sambasiva Rao, who were expelled from the Congress for moving a no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha against the UPA government, attended the meeting.

State ministers S. Sailajanath, P. Satyanarayana and Parthasarthi were also present at the meeting.

Kiran Reddy resigned as chief minister and quit the Congress after the Lok Sabha passed the bill for formation of a Telangana state. He alleged that the Congress had done grave injustice to Telugu-speaking people.

Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan has accepted Kiran Reddy's resignation and asked him to continue as caretaker chief minister.

The Congress has not yet taken a decision whether to name a new chief minister or impose President's rule.

The central government is likely to issue in a couple of days a gazette notification for formation of Telangana and the successor state of Andhra Pradesh.