Chief minister quits over vote to split Andhra Pradesh

The chief minister of an Indian state resigned yesterday in protest at a contentious bill to split his state in two, a plan that has triggered chaotic scenes in the federal parliament.

Kiran Kumar Reddy announced he was stepping down "with heavy heart" as chief of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh and from the ruling Congress party over the bill to create the country's 29th state.

The bill was expected to be introduced into parliament's upper house yesterday to carve the new state called Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, after a decades-long campaign.

Reddy's move came one day after uproar during a vote on the bill in the lower house that saw a blackout of live televised proceedings, amid fears opposing MPs would spark mayhem.

Reddy slammed as shameful lawmakers' behaviour in pushing through the bill in the lower house without proper debate, and also attacked the decision to cut the live TV feed.

MPs were "robbers, hiding from people, putting off TV, throwing out those who were objecting", Reddy was quoted as saying in the state capital, Hyderabad.

He accused Congress and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of supporting the bill to win votes in the general election due by the end of May.