The man who was in 2002 humiliated by his party for his self indulgence as a cabinet minister had, it seems, finally got his due. Sena leaders who I spoke to on Sunday morning insist that they were on the verge of sacking Prabhu from the party but to ensure that they did not project an image of rebellion within the ranks, the decision was postponed. With his destiny just a signature away, Prabhu made his decision and conveyed to the PMO that irrespective of the Sena decision, he would serve the PM, even if that meant resigning from the Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray who had already asked Prabhu to resign from the advisory committee was enraged at the prospect of the BJP imposing its choice on the Sena. With the Shiv Sena reluctant to offer support to the BJP-led Maharashtra government, the BJP's emissaries last week asked Uddhav to support the government in Maharashtra in exchange for a cabinet berth to Suresh Prabhu. The Prime Minister's Office, which had at that point asked for Prabhu as a minister in place of Geete, promised him his rightful place in a cabinet reshuffle. Whispers in the current dispensation point towards the "help" of his close friend and political stalwart from Maharashtra, NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Snubbed by his friend and confidant Uddhav Thackeray, Prabhu sent feelers to the Modi dispensation through his industrialist friends and the PM appointed him to head a high-level advisory group for Integrated Development of Power, Coal and Renewable Energy for reforms in the power sector. He had no say in party politics and decision-making, with Shiv Sena leaders dismissing him as a man without ideology, fit only for boardroom meetings, power deals and corporate setups. The current crop of senior Sena leaders who surround Uddhav Thackeray advised him not to trust Prabhu they called him an "opportunist".Īnant Geete once again emerged as the consensus candidate and like his one-time friend and contemporary Manohar Joshi, Prabhu was relegated to the fringes. With an absolute majority, the BJP was unwilling to grant two cabinet berths to the Sena and tried to placate the latter with the Heavy Industries Ministry. This was around the time the Sena was bargaining with the BJP for cabinet berths in May 2014. The leader, who had been working as a consultant with major international organizations since 2004, was said to harbour the desire to be the Shiv Sena's choice for cabinet minister in the current government. There is a back story to the elevation of Prabhu, seen as a favourite of Narendra Modi. On a Sunday in 2014, Geete, the lone Sena representative in the government was said to be on the verge of resigning from his post after the BJP-Sena stand-off, while Prabhu joined the government. In August 2002, when Prabhu resigned from the post of Power Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government over differences with his mentor Bal Thackeray, it was Geete who succeeded him. Union cabinet minister in the present government Anant Geete and newly appointed Cabinet minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu seem to have their destinies intertwined. She is working on a book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi which will be published in 2015.) (Rana Ayyub is an award-winning investigative journalist and political writer.
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