New Delhi: In an unprecedented move, Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi has been forced to step down within hours of presenting the Railway Budget for his decision to announce the first passenger fare hike in a decade. Sources say that Trivedi sent his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after receiving the marching orders from Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Mamata asked Manmohan Singh to make her loyalist Mukul Roy the Railway Minister and also demanded full rollback of the fare hike.
Sources say the Prime Minister will accept Trivedi's resignation, as it is being seen as a mere formality after Mamata's diktat and may also agree to a partial rollback.
Demanding a roll back in rail fare hike and a financial package for West Bengal, Trinamool Congress MPs have started a 'dharna' in Parliament.
Trivedi has reached Parliament to answer quarries on the Rail Budget even as the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) asked MOS Railways KH Muniyappa to be present in Parliament during the Question Hour on Thursday. Muniyappa has cancelled his prescheduled presser in Bangalore and returned to Delhi.
Earlier, Trivedi told a Bengali news channel on Thursday morning that he had not resigned yet. "I have not resigned yet, but if the party wants then I will. Mamata made me the railway minister, she may choose to remove me," Trivedi told the channel.
He said that it would have been better if the Trinamool Congress had spoken to him directly about the Railway Budget instead of going public.
Self respecting people may not come to politics any more. It's a decision of the party and I have nothing to say about it," he replied when asked about Mamata asking the Prime Minister to sack him from the Union Ministry.
Roy may be sworn in on Saturday or Sunday after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee tables the Union Budget on Friday.
Meanwhile, Pranab Mukherjee has asked Mamata Banerjee to rethink her decision of sacking Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi.
"I have nothing to say. The party will speak. The party is going to sit on demonstration in front of the Gandhi statue (in Parliament). I am a Member of Parliament and I am going to join the demonstration," said Roy.
Putting a question mark on the fate of the Railway Budget, Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asked Manmohan Singh to remove Trivedi as the Railway Minister after he took the bold and politically suicidal decision of an across-the-board increase in passenger fares, the first since 2002.
Trivedi, a Trinamool Congress MP from Barrackpur in West Bengal, came under scathing attack from his own party soon after he presented his maiden Railway Budget in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday in which he proposed to mop up an additional Rs 4,000 crore for spending on railway safety by increasing passenger fares across all classes.
While pointing out that passenger fares were subsidising freight rates and so they need to be rationalised, the Railway Minister increased the passenger fares by 2 paise per km for suburban and ordinary second class; 3 paise per km for mail/express second class; 5 paise per km for sleeper class; 10 paise per km for AC Chair Car, AC 3 tier and First Class; 15 paise per km for AC 2 tier and 30 paise per km for AC I.
The fares would be rounded off to the next nearest five rupees and the minimum fares and platform tickets would now cost Rs 5.
Comments
0 comment