Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee asks Prime Minister to sack her party member Dinesh Trivedi as Railway Minister, as she was not pleased with the hike in train fares
Uncertainty looms large over the fate of Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, who announced the Railway Budget in the Parliament yesterday. Upset with him over the proposed hike in rail fares, TMC chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, demanding Trivedi’s removal.
“Yes, I have written to the prime minister seeking his replacement with Mukul Roy, another union minister,” said Banerjee. She added, “We had the portfolio of railways.
At that time we had done several developmental works. Today, the rail fare has been increased, we were not aware of it. Our parliamentary party has already opposed it.”
Banerjee was railway minister from May 2009 to last May, before taking over the reins in her home state of West Bengal. “We will not allow the fare hike to happen for the sake of the common man… We are totally against it. I can assure you this,” Banerjee said.
Making his stand clear, Trivedi said, “I have pulled the railways from the ICU. I accept full responsibility ¦ I’ve no hesitation in accepting that neither the party nor the leadership was aware of it (the hike).” In another interview to a channel, Trivedi said for him “the country came first, then the family, and then the party”.
For mail and express trains, the second class fares rose by 3 paise per km, for sleeper class by 5 paise per km, for AC chair car, AC three tier and first class categories by 10 paise per km and for AC two tier category, the hike will be 15 paise per km. The fare hikes are the first in 10 years.
Lalu: Railways has become ‘dry cow’
The Indian Railways is like a cow that neither gives milk nor bears calves. So says former railway minister Lalu Prasad. Declining to comment on the railway budget “for political reasons”, Lalu said, “Indian Railways is the lifeline of the country. From being the surplus organisation it was in my term, it has now become a dry cow, which neither gives milk nor calf.”
Congress hand in the making of budget?
Sudip Bandyopadhyay, TMC leader, launched a veiled attack on the Congress saying that the way the Railway Minister praised the finance department over a small central grant of Rs 3,000 crore sounded a bit abnormal.
Asked whether the party felt that Trivedi had increased the fares in return for the Central grant, he said, “I know how much trouble Mamata Banerjee had to face when she needed a Rs 1,000 crore grant from the Centre during her tenure as railway minister.”
Following the accusation and her antics, it seems the Congress party is in no mood to tolerate Mamata Banerjee any longer. Speaking to MiD DAY, a senior Congress leader, on condition of anonymity, said, “If it continues like this, then it will be really difficult to get along with the TMC in the UPA.”
However, Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed downplayed the tiff. “As TMC’s reaction to the budget is their internal matter, we don’t want to get into it.
Omar backs ‘poor chap’ Dinesh Trivedi
Stating that people will happily accept modest hikes in rail fares, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said he empathised with Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, who was put on notice by his party Trinamool Congress for raising passenger fares.
“All said and done, I’d hate to be in Dinesh Trivedi’s shoes today. Today was supposed to be the highlight of his political career. Poor chap,” Abdullah said on microblogging site Twitter.
The chief minister added, “We take populism to ridiculous levels. I genuinely believe people would happily accept the modest hike, if safety and quality of service is better.”
—Agencies