Hyderabad, Oct 2 (IANS): Police forcibly removed four legislators from the chamber of the deputy speaker at the Andhra Pradesh assembly building late Saturday, ending a nearly nine-hour-long episode.

The personnel from the police commissioner's Task Force broke open the door of the chamber, bodily lifted the legislators and dropped them at their respective houses around midnight.

A large number of Telangana supporters, including lawyers, had gathered outside the assembly building in support of the legislators who had locked themselves in the chamber since 2.30 p.m. Saturday.

The legislators, led by former minister Nagam Janardhana Reddy, were staging a sit-in to ask the speaker to accept their resignations over the demand for a separate Telangana state.

The legislators submitted their fresh resignations in August after their resignations along with those of 100 other lawmakers from the region were rejected by Speaker N. Manohar in July.

Janardhana Reddy, Venugopala Chary, Harishwar Reddy and Jogu Ramanna had also quit the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) last month, alleging the party was not supporting the demand for a Telangana state.

They argued that it is their constitutional right that the speaker accept their resignations.

They had visited the assembly several times during the last two months making the same demand but the speaker did not take a decision despite hearing them individually.