Will carry forward Sibal's good work: New HRD minister P Raju

New Delhi: M M Pallam Raju, who has been allocated the HRD portfolio,  said he will carry forward the “good work” initiated by his predessor Kapil Sibal, who set in motion several reforms during his tenure. “Kapil Sibal_ji_ has done a lot of good work and I think that needs to be carried forward,” Raju told reporters here following his evalation as a Cabinet minister. Raju, who was MoS in the Defence Ministry, takes charges of the HRD Ministry at a time when a host of legislation related to reforms in higher education sector are pending in Parliament. The ministry has also set a target of achieving gross enrolment ratio in the sector at 30 percent by 2020. [caption id=“attachment_505722” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  M M Pallam Raju being sworn in. PTI[/caption] He hailed the decision of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to induct five more faces from Andhra Pradesh in the government, saying the issue of representation from the state has been “rectified”. “I think, both in UPA I and II, we had the largest contribution of MPs from Andhra Pradesh and I think people of Andhra Pradesh were also feeling let down on the issue of adequate representation. Now its been rectified. We are grateful to Sonia_ji_ and the Prime Minister for rectifying that,” he said. Raju said it was now time for Congress leaders from the state to work hard and strengthen the party there. PTI