HYDERABAD, July 5: Police said they arrested over two dozen lawmakers in southern India on Tuesday and tear gassed students who were demonstrating in support of a controversial plan to create a new state.

The arrest of the 25 lawmakers came a day after 93 state and federal legislators submitted their resignations to pressure New Delhi to carve out the proposed state of Telangana from the existing state of Andhra Pradesh.

“We're ready to make any sacrifice to achieve our goal of separate state of Telangana. We're even willing to lay down our lives,” said opposition Andhra Pradesh state legislator Nagam Janardhan Reddy.

Police arrested Reddy and other slogan-shouting legislators demonstrating opposite the state assembly in the high-tech city of Hyderabad as supporters of the proposed state also staged a strike that paralysed the Telangana region.

The strike shut schools, shops, businesses and public transit.

Meanwhile, at the Osmania University campus in Hyderabad, police said they fired tear gas shells and baton-charged hundreds of students to quell protests.

The proposed state would include Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh's state capital, and also the Indian base for many global software firms such as Microsoft.

Supporters of Telangana say the drought-prone region has been neglected by the Andhra Pradesh government and believe statehood would bring new affluence.

But Andhra Pradesh's wealthier regions are strongly against the move.

So far 10 Congress federal lawmakers and 83 members of the Andhra Pradesh legislature, including 41 ruling Congress state government members, have given their resignations to support the decades-old demand for a separate state.—AFP