Modi 2.0: No Suresh Prabhu, Jayant Sinha in cabinet

Modi 2.0: No Suresh Prabhu, Jayant Sinha in cabinet

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu. (File Photo: IANS)

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha. (File Photo: IANS)

Suresh Prabhu. (File Photo: IANS)

New Delhi, May 30 (IANS) 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 Thackeray 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.

After a successful professional career in global majors like McKinsey & Company, Sinha, son of former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in the Vajpayee government, contested the 2014 general elections from Hazaribagh constituency of Jharkhand.

He won with a healthy margin and was sworn-in as MoS Finance in 2014. Later in his term, he was made the MoS Civil Aviation, where he was instrumental in implementing the RCS UDAN scheme.

He has also been credited to bring in technology enabled digital ecosystem for the aviation sector to make overall air travel experience easier for millions of passengers.

Thsi time around too, Sinha retained his Lok Sabha constituency seat of Hazaribagh in the general elections.

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.

--IANS

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