New Delhi, August 20
Reform-friendly Power Minister Suresh Prabhu has resigned from the Union Cabinet and his senior colleague in the Shiv Sena and Union Minister of State for Finance Anant Geete is likely to be elevated as Cabinet Minister in charge of Power.
Mr Geete’s place in the Ministry of Finance is likely to be occupied by Shiv Sena’s Dalit MP from Buldhana in the Vidarbha region.
Commenting on the development, Mr Geete said he was not aware of any move to make him the new Power Minister though he said he would accept any new responsibility given to him by Mr Thackeray, adding that “If Mr Thackeray thinks he should give me anything more important I will take it as an honour.” Mr Geete did not fail to mention that every Shiv Sena member obeyed what Mr Thackeray said.
The development does not cast any reflections on the Atal Behari Vajpayee government or even on BJP-Shiv Sena relations and is believed to be an internal matter of the Sena.
According to political sources, Mr Prabhu had attracted the ire of his party supremo Bal Thackeray on whose directive he resigned from the Cabinet on August 14. Mr Thackeray had let it be known in the past that he was unhappy with Mr Prabhu’s working.
Mr Prabhu, a chartered accountant (CA) by profession, had earlier resigned in April last during Shiv Sena’s conference at Shirdi but, Mr Thackeray had then decided to reject the resignation after sitting on it for about a month. Incidentally, he was also the Sena representative in the 13-day Vajpayee government in 1996.
