New Delhi: In his known shock-and-awe style, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dropped parliamentarians and key economic ministers in the previous NDA government like Suresh Prabhu, Jayant Sinha and Manoj Sinha.
Prabhu held key ministries like Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation and earlier in his term was also the Railway Minister. However, in the wake of a series of railway accidents, Prabhu had been shifted from Railways to Commerce and Industry with many considering it as demotion.
Prabhu had taken moral responsibility for the Kalinga Utkal Express train’s derailment near Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district. He held the additional charge of Civil Aviation Ministry and took various measures to improve passenger experience. Prabhu also closely monitored the Modi government’s flagship regional connectivity scheme (RCS) and has been credited with bringing many small towns on the aviation map. As Commerce Minister, he successfully put a check on current account deficit but could not push exports.
A member of upper house Rajya Sabha, Prabhu was minister in Vajpayee government too. Trained as chartered accountant, Prabhu had been the blue-eyed boy of late Shiv Sena Suremo Balasahab Thakre and enjoyed the confidence of Vajpayee.
Not just Prabhu, but even his colleague Jayant Sinha in the Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, which houses the Civil Aviation Ministry, did not find a place in the new cabinet. Besides, the high-profile, Minister of Communications (Independent Charge) and Minister of State (MoS) for Railways in the previous government, Manoj Sinha was also dropped.
