Continuing in office at PM's insistence: Pallam Raju

Raju had offered his resignation over the Telengana issue

Union HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju today said he is continuing in office at the insistence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and maintained that "there is a limit beyond which he cannot resist" creation of Telangana.

Raju, a strong votary of united Andhra Pradesh who had submitted his resigation to the Prime Minister over the issue and protested the CWC decision to create Telangana, said Singh on two different occasions told him that HRD is an important ministry and its working should not suffer and urged him that he must continue his duties.

"So, I have decided that I should not let the Ministry's work suffer while the Minister (Raju) suffers," he told reporters in response to questions on the sidelines of an All India Conference of higher education ministers on Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) here.

He was asked if he would press the Prime Minister to accept his resigation.

Asked if he had withdrawn his resigation, Raju said, "I am continuing my work."

Asked if he is reconciled to the fact that Telangana is going to be a reality and he is in a "helpless" situation, the Minister said, "If there is a will of the party (Congress)...The will of the government (to carve out Telangana), there is a limit beyond which I cannot resist although I can continue to voice the feelings of the public which I am continuing to do."

He noted that the Group of Ministers (GoM) is looking into the issues vis-a-vis creation of Telengana and "our concern is that equitable justice may not be done to all the regions of the state and so we are awaiting the final outcome of the shape of the bill which will carve out the state of Telangana and apportion the resources and all that to the various parts of the State."

On whether the Congress made a mistake vis-a-vis its decision to create Telangana state, Raju said he can only reflect what the public in his area feel, adding a majority of Andhra Pradesh feels that the state should not be bifurcated.