Suresh Prabhu tweets adieu to 'rail family'

Minutes after the mega Cabinet reshuffle on Sunday morning, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu took to Twitter to thank the "rail family for support, love, goodwill" and to say that he would "always cherish these memories," indicating his ouster from the post.

Suresh Prabhu tweeted, "Thanks to 13 Lacs+ rail family for support, love, goodwill.Will always cherish these memories with me.Wishing u all a great life."

This comes almost 10 days after he had apprised of his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wherein he was asked to "wait."
Prabhu, on August 23, had informed that though he takes moral responsibility of the recent train derailment incidents, Prime Minister Modi asked him to wait.

Prabhu took to Twitter and said, "In less than three years as Minister, I have devoted my blood and sweat for the betterment of the Railways. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, I tried to overcome decades of neglect through systemic reforms in all areas, leading to unprecedented investment and milestones."

"New India, envisioned by Prime Minister Modi, deserves Railways, which is efficient and modern. I promise that is the path on which Railways is progressing now," he further said.

"I am extremely pained by the unfortunate accidents, injuries to the passengers and loss of precious lives. It has caused me deep anguish. I met Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi, taking full moral responsibility. He has asked me to wait."

The Congress had demanded Prabhu's resignation after the derailment of the Puri-Haridwar Kalinga Utkal Express, which claimed the lives of 23 people and left more than 100 injured, at Muzaffarnagar's Khatauli region on August 19 evening.

According to reports, Piyush Goyal will be handed over the charge of the Railway Ministry.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet rejig on Sunday morning saw the promotion of as many as four Ministers of State to the rank of Cabinet ministers.

Dharmendra Pradhan, the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, took the oath as the Cabinet ministers at the ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Pradhan is known to have spearheaded one of Prime Minister Modi's main schemes - the "Give it Up" plan for people to forego subsidised cooking gas or LPG voluntarily.

Besides managing to maintain ties with the Opposition parties, Naqvi has done wonders for the Union Government as the spokesperson in the Parliament and outside.

Nirmala Sitharaman, serving as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry as well as a Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs under the Ministry of Finance headed by Arun Jaitley, also took the oath.

Sitharaman had travelled to China for a BRICS meeting, in the middle of a lengthy standoff at the border over Doklam.

Piyush Goyal, the Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines, was also sworn-in as the Cabinet minister. He had brought about a turnaround in power production and delivered on the government's plan to electrify villages.

Other ministers who were handed over bigger responsibilities are:

-Shiv Pratap Shukla

-Ashwini Kumar Choubey, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Buxar, Bihar

-Virendra Kumar, a Lok Sabha MP from Tikamgah, Madhya Pradesh

-Anant Kumar Hegde, a Lok Sabha MP from Uttara Kannada, Karnataka

-Raj Kumar Singh

-Hardeep Puri

-Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

-Satya Pal Singh

-Alphons Kannanthanam, a distinguished former IAS officer of the 1979 batch, Kerala cadre

Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to leave for China wherein he would attend the BRICS Summit.

-ANI