Suresh Prabhu takes charge of Civil Aviation Ministry

Commerce and Industries minister Suresh Prabhu on Monday took charge of the Civil Aviation Ministry, which was left vacant after the resignation of TDP's Ashok Gajapathi Raju.

Raju and another Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP Y S Chowdary resigned from the council of ministers on Friday after party supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu decided to pull out his ministers from the NDA government. Naidu took the decision after facing relentless attacks from the opposition for "failing" to secure special category status for Andhra Pradesh.

The two TDP ministers in the Union Cabinet to met PM Narendra Modi on Thursday and submitted their resignation letter.

Naidu directed two Telugu Desam Party ministers to resign from Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led cabinet amid the growing strain in ties between his party and the Bharatiya Janata Party over alleged neglect of the state in the Union Budget.

Naidu earlier said he had tried to reach out to PM Modi to convey his party's decision before publicly announcing it, but in vain.

"We have shown patience for four years. I tried to convince the Centre... The Centre is not in a mood to listen," Naidu told reporters in Amravati on Wednesday.

"FM Jaitley today not only denied special category status to Andhra Pradesh as promised under the state reorganisation Act but also spoke in a way of insulting and humiliating the state by trying to project as if we were making unjustified demands against national interests," said the Andhra CM.

Jaitley had said the Centre was committed to meeting all promises made to AP at the time of carving out of Telangana four years back but rejected its demand for a special status.

OneIndia News