Four senior leaders of Telugu Desam Party, who were already suspended for anti-party activities submitted their resignations from the primary membership of the party on Wednesday. The four MLAs are Nagam Janardana Reddy, K Harishswar Reddy, S Venugopalachary and Jogu Ramanna.

The four MLAs had earlier submitted their resignations from the Assembly along with the legislators from the other political parties in the Telangana region in order to mount pressure on the separate state issue. Superficially it appears that these MLAs have tendered their resignations for the cause of separate Telangana. But, the real cause is something entirely different say the informed sources. The reasoning seems to be true when we dwell in to the past of these leaders.

To begin with, Nagam Janardhan Reddy has started his political career with the TDP and became minister twice in Naidu's cabinet. He was elected from Nagarkurnool in Mahbubnagar district in 2009 and was made deputy leader of the legislature party in the Assembly. He was also made chairman of Public Accounts Committee by Naidu. However, after the 're-entry of T Devender Goud', another Telangana leader, into the party fold, he was sidelined by the party chief.

Among those who quit the Telugu Desam party, Venugopalachary was considered a close confidant of Naidu. He had also served as Union minister in the United Front government. He was a trusted colleague of Naidu and stood by him during the 1995 split in the TDP. In the 2009 elections, he was elected from Mudhole constituency and he too was sidelined by Naidu after Goud's re-entry. Since then, Venugopalachary has been playing an active role in Telangana politics. He said that he had decided to quit the party as it has failed to take a clear stand on the Telangana issue.

R Harishwar Reddy held the deputy speaker post when the TDP was in power. He also felt sidelined in the party after the return of Devender Goud which widened the gap between Naidu and himself. Known as pro-farmer leader, Harishwar wields a lot of clout in his Parigi constituency and in Ranga Reddy district, which happens to be adjacent to Devender Goud's constituency. Ofcourse, Jogu Ramanna is said to be close to Nagam and naturally, he followed suit Nagam.

What observers say is, Devender Goud is the common factor of dissent for all the four leaders. Nagam was heading the Telangana Forum prior to E Dayakar Rao. He didn't convince Naidu to take a favourable stance towards Telangana, instead tried to corner Chandrababu by pressurising him to give party's consent in writing to Pranab Mukherji in Telanagana's favour. Love for Telangana isn't the real reason for leaving TDP, but the actual 'bone of contention' was being sidelined on Goud's re-entry into the party.