Suresh Prabhu

Suresh Prabhu has become the new Railway Minister of India. However, his ascent was highly dramatic because he switched allegiance at the last moment from Shiv Sena to BJP. The online membership facility of BJP came handy this time as Prabhu became a BJP member just hours before the oath-taking ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new council of ministers at Rashtrapati Bhavan on November 9, 2014.

Political observers believe Shiv Sena’s former leader Suresh Prabhu became the blue-eyed boy of Modi when he pulled out of his Wharton Business School’s speech after the esteemed business school withdrew online video speech invitation to Narendra Modi. Another reason why the 61-year-old Prabhu is favoured by the PM is the efficiency he brings in a government department, he is entrusted with.

Early Life of Suresh Prabhu

Suresh Prabhu was born on July 11, 1953 in Mumbai. Son of Prabhakar Prabhu. He completed his SSC from Mumbai’s Sharadashram Vidya Mandir, located at Dadar. He graduated in commerce from Mumbai’s M.L. Dahanukar College at Vile Parle. However, he didn’t stop his education here. He went on to complete his LLB from Mumbai’s New Law College. Suresh Prabhu is a qualified chartered accountant. His spouse Uma S. Prabhu happens to be a journalist by profession. The couple is blessed with a son named Ameya Prabhu. Before joining politics he was a banker, educationist, owner of a Chartered Accountancy firm (way back in 1996), and owned a family business.

Political Career of Suresh Prabhu

Suresh Prabhu was a member of Shiv Sena from the year 2006 to 2014. However, he is known as one of the members within closer circles of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From the year 1996 to 2009, Suresh has won from Maharashtra Konkan’s Rajapur LS seat four times. He is currently a member of Rajya Sabha as he lost from his lucky constituency in 2009.

The qualified Chartered Accountant from Maharashtra juggled multiple portfolios during the first NDA regime’s stint at the centre from 1998 to 2004. During that period, Suresh Prabhu was entrusted with the departments of Power, Industry, Fertilizers & Chemicals, Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises, and Environment and Forests. He got accolades from all quarters especially for managing (streamlining the process) the power department with efficiency.

He has a systematic working style and just like Narendra Modi also loves to create blueprint of coming five years and impose deadlines for various projects.

Prabhu had successfully carried out his responsibility as a Chairman of the Task Force for Interlinking of Rivers. In the recent past, he has been nominated as South Asia Water conference’s chairman and has also become World Bank parliamentary network’s member.