M M Pallam Raju, who has been allocated the HRD portfolio, today said he will carry forward the "good work" initiated by his predecessor Kapil Sibal, who set in motion several reforms during his tenure.

"Kapil Sibalji has done a lot of good work and I think that needs to be carried forward," Raju said 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.

"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 Soniaji and the Prime Minister for rectifying that," he said.

Raju is one of six new faces from Andhra Pradesh.