Purandeswari was again elected to the Lok Sabha again in 2009 from Visakhapatnam on the Congress ticket and continued as the union minister of state for human resource development. In 2012, she was shifted to the commerce and industry ministry.
The 55-year-old sent her resignation to Prime Minster Manmohan Singh after the bill for formation of a separate Telangana state was passed by parliament. She also quit the Congress party.
Purandeswari's husband Venkateshwara Rao, member of the Andhra Pradesh assembly, also resigned from the Congress to protest the state's bifurcation.
