Hyderabad: As the totally washed out budget session of India’s parliament was adjourned on Friday day indefinitely by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, the agitation by the rival parties from Andhra Pradesh peaked to a new high.

While Members of Parliament of the state’s main opposition YSR Congress party tendered their resignations to the Speaker, in protest against the failure of the Centre to grant Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh, lawmakers from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) staged a noisy protest in both the Houses of Parliament.

Meanwhile, TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu led a “bicycle yatra” to the state Secretariat in Amarvati.

Soon after the Parliament was adjourned, five Lok Sabha members of the YSRCP met the speaker in her office and handed in their resignations.

Later they proceeded to Andhra Bhavan in New Delhi and launched their indefinite hunger strike. The five MPs who resigned and sat on hunger strike are Mekapati Rajmohan Reddy, S.V. Subba Reddy, Mithun Reddy, Vara Prasad and Avinash Reddy.

The hunger strike camp, where a large number of YSRCP workers had gathered, was echoing with the slogans of “give special category status to AP immediately”.

Both the YSRCP and the TDP had given notice of no-confidence motion against Narendra Modi government but the Speaker did not take it up as MPs of AIADMK were obstructing the proceedings with their own demands.

Party president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, who was busy with his state wide Padyatra said that his party has done what he had promised to do.

“We do as we say,” he said, referring to his earlier statement that his MPs would resign soon after the budget session was adjourned.

“I challenge Chandrababu Naidu to make TDP MPs resign and stand united with the people of Andhra Pradesh in their rightful demand of special category status”, he said.

In solidarity with the fasting MPs, Jaganmohan Reddy announced the party would organise relay hunger strikes all over the state.

The stir against the Modi government over the demands of Andhra Pradesh has turned into a slugfest between the two rival parties of the state.

Telugu Desam leader Chandrababu Naidu, along with the ministers and party MLAs, took part in a cycle rally from Venkatapalem village to Secretariat covering a distance of five kilometres. The TDP party organised similar rallies all over the state to protest against the attitude of the Modi government towards the state.

Later speaking in the state assembly Naidu said that the Centre had given only Rs15 billion (Dh847 million) for the construction of the new capital and when asked for the due share it was resorting to the counter attacks.

He termed the resignation of five MPs of YSRCP as a draw and he said that the people understand it very well. He compared YSRCP’s support to the BJP as the support of British agents to the British rule in India.

Earlier in a teleconference he directed the party MPs to continue their protest in Parliament and after the House was adjourned meet the President of India to draw his attention to the problems of the state.

TDP MPs held their protests in both the Houses till the last minute. In Lok Sabha they went near the chair of the Prime Minister and shouted slogans. Later they also held a sit in protest outside the chambers of the Speaker and in the courtyard of the Parliament.

Another protest program was jointly organised by the left parties CPI and CPM along with Jana Sena Party of film star Pawan Kalyan. Pawan, leaders of the left parties along with thousands of workers marched on foot from Benz Circle to Ramavarapadu, causing a traffic jam on Chennai-Kolkata highway.