Former Railways minister Prabhu extends support to Goyal after Cabinet rejig

New Delhi: Former Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Sunday congratulated Piyush Goyal on his new stint as the Railway Minister, and assured complete support to the latter and termed him 'like his younger brother'.

"I would like to congratulate Piyush Goyal on his new appointment. Piyush Goyal is like my younger brother. I have full faith that he will bring a new thinking to the ministry and will be successful. I extend complete support to him," Suresh told reporters here.

The new Minister for Commerce and Industry Prabhu has been facing flak in the recent past after a series of train derailments occurred during his tenure as the railway minister.

Responding to this, Suresh claimed that his resignation was purely on moral grounds after the accidents took place, adding that he had worked very hard to bring the railways on a track progressing towards substantial growth.

"If you take any five-year period, particularly the last three years, the number of accidents have gone down. I have seen many remarks on social media, but let me assure you that I have done my best to contribute to the development of railways. For the first time, more thrust is being given to safety and security in railways. There are many projects which are now underway, that couldn't be worked upon in the past," he said.

Speaking about his new role as the commerce and industry minister, Suresh stated that reworking policies to bring the country's GDP back on track remains the priority.

"The ongoing economic reform needs to be given a nudge, in order to bring the GDP back on track. For this, it is important to work on initiatives like increasing the share of manufacturing in GDP, improving Ease of Doing Business, Make in India, Startup India and skill development," he said.

"On the exports front, contribution of exports in GDP has declined, which needs to be looked into. Additionally, it is important to give thrust to employment generation in the country," added Suresh.

Earlier, Union Minister Piyush Goyal was given the charge of Railway Ministry, post the mega Cabinet reshuffle on Sunday morning.

This comes after Suresh Prabhu formally bade adieu to the 'rail family' on Twitter, and has now been assigned the portfolio of the Minister of Commerce and Industry.

Goyal has also been declared as the Minister of Coal.