Piyush Goyal paid tribute to Ram Vilas Paswan at his home in Delhi.
New Delhi:
Railways Minister Piyush Goyal was given an additional post of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution after Ram Vilas Paswan’s death on Thursday, Rashtrapati Bhavan said.
Mr. Goyal is also the Minister of Commerce and Industry of the Narendra Modi government.
This morning, Prime Minister Modi and several leaders paid tribute to the leader of the Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) at his home in Delhi. Prime Minister Modi was accompanied by senior BJP leaders, including BJP chief JP Nadda. “I lost a friend, a valued colleague and someone who was extremely passionate about ensuring that every poor person leads a life of dignity,” the prime minister tweeted Thursday.
Piyush Goyal was also among those who paid their last respects to Mr. Paswan at his home.
Paswan, who is from Bihar, will be cremated in the state capital, Patna, tomorrow. The Minister of Law and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad, will represent the central government and the union council of ministers at the funeral.
He died just days before a Bihar assembly election that has a lot at stake for his son Chirag Paswan.
Paswan was one of the most prominent Dalit leaders in India and an eight-time deputy of the Lok Sabha. He has been a minister in almost every central government formed since 1989 and served six prime ministers, beginning with the cabinet of VP Singh. He founded the Lok Janashakti Party in 2000.
He was part of several governments of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Congress.
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