Union Minister Raju faces ire of Seemandhra supporters

Raju said he had to remain silent and not press for acceptance of his resignation on advice of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.  

He assured the slogan-shouting crowd he would strive to ensure justice to Seemandhra people on key issues such as drinking water, irrigation, education and employment by placing “facts” before the Group of Ministers, looking into modalities of carving out a separate state of Telangana.  

Amidst loud protests, he cut short speech and headed towards his residence under police escort.  Speaking to the media at his residence, the Congress leader said he was confident the party high command and the Centre would do justice to the Seemandhra region.

Raju made it clear he was in favour of a united Andhra Pradesh but had to abide by the high command's decision on Telangana. “The decision on bifurcation was taken after all parties gave green signal in writing. Hence, the Government was going ahead with formation of separate Telangana state.”