HYDERABAD: Two more Andhra Pradesh ministers on Monday submitted resignations in protest against the Congress Working Committee's (CWC) decision to create Telangana state by dividing the Andhra Pradesh state.

Kondru Murali and S Vijayarama Raju submitted their papers to chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, taking the number of ministerial resignations to seven.

Over 3.5 lakh state government employees are set to launch an indefinite strike in 13 Seemandhra district in protest against the division of the state. The state administration is likely to be affected in nine districts in the coastal Andhra and four districts in Rayalaseema. The state road transport corporation (SRTC) buses will be off the roads too.

Tension mounted up in the state secretariat as hundreds of Seemandhra employees lodged against the decision to create Telangana. They demanded that the decision be withdrawn. Protests also mounted up in the Seemandhra region. Thousands of people came to the streets despite heavy rain at many places.

The local cable operators have blocked entertainment TV channels in Krishna and Guntur districts in protest against the move to divide the state. The Telangana employees in Vidhyut Soudha staged a sit-in protest against the remarks of chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy that the Centre should address all contentious issues before going ahead with the decision to divide Andhra Pradesh.

The cabinet sub-committee met and deputy chief minister D Rajanarasimha held talks with the agitating employees of the Seemandhra region. Seemandhra Congress MPs met at Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajgopal's Delhi residence to chalk out plans to stall the division of the state.

AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh appealed the Seemandhra government employees to withdraw the strike notice. He invited their representatives for talks in Delhi.