Will keep working as BJP worker: Outgoing Union minister Anurag Thakur

New Delhi: His name not on the new BJP-led NDA government's list of ministers, outgoing Union Minister Anurag Thakur said Sunday he would keep working as a BJP worker and contribute to fulfilling PM-designate Narendra Modi's resolve to make India a developed country.

Thakur congratulated Modi and his "team of ministers" and said all those who have been picked for ministerial positions in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government are "very competent".

They will make "every possible effort" to take the country on the path of progress, the outgoing information and broadcasting minister said.

In the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, Thakur was reelected to the Lower House of Parliament from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh.

"I am a party worker first. The people of Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh have elected me to the Lok Sabha for the fifth consecutive time. Being elected to the Lok Sabha for the fifth time is itself a great honour," he told reporters here when asked if he would be getting some key responsibility in Himachal Pradesh as he is not being inducted into Modi's new council of ministers.

Thakur said that "the BJP has given me the opportunity to contest the Lok Sabha polls five times. There cannot be a bigger opportunity than this for me".

"I worked as a party worker in the past and would continue to work as a party worker in the future. Our entire effort is to take India on the path of progress. All of us will walk together because India is important, the Modi government is important and the country’s progress is important," he said.

Thakur said he was confident that under the leadership of Prime Minister-designate Modi, the country will scale new heights and become the third largest economy and a developed country.