Prabhu tweets indicating exit, wishes Rail family

New Delhi: Suresh Prabhu today indicated he was stepping down as the Railway minister with a Tweet that underlined memories amid a buzz about his imminent removal from the office after a spate of train accidents.

The Tweet came minutes after the oath-taking ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan where nine new members were inducted into the council of ministers and four others were promoted to the Cabinet rank.

Thanks to all 13 Lacs+ rail family for their support, love, goodwill. I will always cherish these memories with me.

Wishing you all a great life, said Prabhu.

Prabhu, who had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and offered to resign after the train accidents last month, had been absent from his Rail Bhavan office from August 23.

In a series of Tweets, he congratulated the new ministers as well as those who had been elevated.

Congrats to all members of #TeamModi for new responsibility. Making our country better is our common mission, Prabhu wrote.

He also applauded Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Dharmendra Pradhan, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal for their elevation as Cabinet ministers.

Congrats to @dpradhanbjp @PiyushGoyal @nsitharaman @naqvimukhtar for their new responsibilities Best wishes for great success, he tweeted.

On August 19, 23 people were killed and over 200 injured when 13 coaches of a train derailed near Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Four days later, 10 coaches of the Kaifiyat Express heading towards Delhi collided with a dumper in Auraiya district, Uttar Pradesh.

Prabhu has also not attended any function as rail minister since then, though he was present at a recent rally in Goa as a BJP MP and a party event.