Hyderabad, Oct 20 (IANS): A day after nine Congress MPs from Andhra Pradesh's Telangana region decided to surrender their gunmen to the state government, police chief Dinesh Reddy said they alone would be responsible for the consequences of moving around without security.

"For reasons best known to them, they decided to return the gunmen. The police can't force anyone to take security," the director general of police (DGP) told IANS.

He said the police would take an undertaking from the leaders, belonging to the state's ruling Congress, that they would be responsible for the consequences.

The MPs, in a letter to Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, conveyed their decision to surrender the gunmen to protest the remark by the Police Officers' Association that the elected representatives could not step out even for a minute without the protection provided by the police.

The MPs, who were arrested during the 'rail blockade' in Telangana on Oct 15, criticised the association's statement describing the action against them as Operation Duryodhana. The association was referring to a Telugu film by the same name which showed that political leaders could not survive without security provided by police.

The MPs demanded action against the officer responsible for making the remarks belittling elected representatives.

The nine MPs are K. Keshava Rao, Madhu Goud Yaskhi, Ponnam Prabhakar, G. Vivek, S. Rajaiah, G. Sukhender Reddy, Manda Jagannatham, Balram Naik and K. Rajagopal Reddy.

The decision of the Congress MPs came close on the heels of state legislators of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) surrendering their security guards to protest "police excesses" during the rail blockade.