Pallam Raju faces Seemandhra flak

Kakinada: Union Minister M.M. Pallam Raju on Monday faced the ire of Seemandhra agitators on his visit to his Lok Sabha constituency. The agitators greeted him with black flags when he travelled between Annavaram town and Kakinada, his Lok Sabha constituency. Police intervened and pushed back the protesters who tried to block the Congress MP's cavalcade.

Soon after reaching Kakinada, Raju was gheraoed by leaders and members of Joint Action Committee (JAC), comprising government employees, who staged a demonstration near his residence and asked him to clarify his stand on the ongoing agitation against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

The Minister made a brief speech at a nearby spot and explained to the agitators circumstances leading to the Union Cabinet's nod early this month to Telangana creation and his resignation in protest. 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."