Union Minister KS Rao resigns over division of Andhra Pradesh

New Delhi: Union Textiles Minister Kavuru Sambasiva Rao on Thursday tendered his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the issue of division of Andhra Pradesh. “I cannot continue to be a member of the council of ministers against my conscience knowing that the Government has caused irreparable damage to the state of Andhra Pradesh,” Rao told Prime Minister in his resignation letter. [caption id=“attachment_1464061” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  KS Rao. Photo courtesy: IBNLive.[/caption] Rao, 63, represents Eluru constituency of Andhra Pradesh in the Lok Sabha. Elected to the lower house for the first time in 1984, he is serving his fifth term. He has served in the state Congress and has been on several parliamentary panels in the past including the crucial public accounts committee. Rao was upset over the division of Andhra Pradesh for the creation of a separate state of Telangana. Rao is one of the many senior leaders to resign over the creation of Telangana. Last year, after Andhra CM Kiran Kumar Reddy resigned from his post and exited the Congress shortly after the state was divided. PTI