No representative from Andhra Pradesh in new Modi government

The BJP did not win any of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the recent general elections.

Narendra Modi (L) looks on as he sits next to Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah (2R) and Minister of Home Affairs of India Rajnath Singh (2L) before Modi's swearing-in ceremony as Indian Prime Minister at the President house in New Delhi on Thurs

AMARAVATI: With none from Andhra Pradesh included in the new union council of ministers led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the state does not have a representative in the central government perhaps for the first time.

The sole representative of the state in the Modi-led NDA-I, Suresh Prabhu, has been omitted in the new council of ministers sworn in Thursday.

He is the lone parliamentarian of the Bharatiya Janata Party from the state. The BJP did not win any of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the recent general elections.

In 2014, the then ruling Telugu Desam Party was an ally of the BJP and two of its MPs P Ashok Gajapathi Raju and YS Chowdary found place in the Modi government.

They too had resigned in March last year after the TDP snapped ties with BJP over the demand for special category status for Andhra Pradesh.

Since then, Prabhu, elected to Rajya Sabha from the state in 2016, was the lone Union Minister from Andhra Pradesh.