New Delhi, Mar 10: Union Minister Suresh Prabhu has been assigned the charge of Ministry of Civil Aviation, in addition to his existing portfolio of Commerce and Industry. The appointment was finalised by President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday, based upon the recommendation sent by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Prabhu, 64, was inducted into Narendra Modi's Ministry in 2015, after he switched over from Shiv Sena to the BJP. After heading the Railways department for two years, Prabhu decided to relinquish the post in wake of a series of train derailment incidents. In the cabinet reshuffle last year, he was accorded the charge of Commerce and Industry, whereas, Railways was assigned to Piyush Goyal.

Prabhu's appointment as the Civil Aviation Minister was necessitated as the incumbent Minister, TDP's Ashok Gajapathi Raju, resigned after his party severed ties with the ruling NDA alliance.

Raju, along with Y S Chowdary, MoS Earth Sciences and Technology, submitted their resignations on Thursday, a day after TDP president Chandrababu Naidu announced his decision to snap ties with the BJP.

"It was unfortunate, but we had to take the decision as the Centre left us with no other option. For four years, we had been waiting for Andhra Pradesh to be accorded the special category status," said Chowdary.

TDP, which is the ruling party in Andhra, had sought special category status for the state in order to receive sops and tax concessions. The demand was raised after the bifurcation of the state in 2014, with the mineral-rich and revenue-sufficient regions now predominantly falling in the newly formed Telangana.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 10, 2018 02:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).