Exactly a year ago, Telugu Desam Party MP Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu secured a cabinet berth in Narendra Modi’s 3.0 government as Chandrababu Naidu’s party played a significant role in the NDA alliance. He became the youngest cabinet minister in the history of the country when Modi chose inducted him into his cabinet for the prestigious Civil Aviation Ministry. It was indeed a deserving choice given Ram Mohan Naidu’s credentials and ability. This selection by Modi was hailed by everyone across all party affiliations.

Ram Mohan Naidu embarked on a herculean task when he took charge as Civil Aviation Ministry with so many challenges upfront. One year on, it is now a testing time for the dynamic politician who was once the show stealer with his assertive and trenchant speeches during Parliamentary sessions on various key issues. It has not a smooth sailing for the Srikakulam MP as expected and the recent airline tragedy cornered him and give a big jolt to his budding career as a minister.

There have been demands for his resignation from the opposition parties and the general public as a sign of moral responsibility for the flight crash. He also faced severe backlash for posting videos of the crash site as it was labelled as an insensitive move to picture his visit for the sake of reels and post on his social media pages.

Several questions are now being raised by the passengers over the quality of flights used by several airlines and the steps to be taken by the aviation ministry to avoid such technical failures in future. Moreover, he has the responsibility to ensure that some of the pending projects like the Bhogapuram airport in Andhra Pradesh which is keenly awaited will be completed within the stipulated time as promised by the Chief Minister.

It will be a tight ropewalk for Naidu from now onwards because he will need to navigate these tough times and make sure that no other aviation disaster occurs during his remaining of his tenure.