New Delhi: Following Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee's diktat to resign for increasing passenger fares in the Rail Budget, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Thursday morning sent his resignation letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
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.
Manmohan Singh has already agreed to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's demand to replace Dinesh Trivedi as the Railway Minister.
The Prime Minister also agreed to Mamata's pick for the post - Trinamool's Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Roy. Manmohan Singh had rejected Roy's candidature earlier.
Sources say that the Congress may also agree to a partial rollback in passenger fares, which have been increased for the first time since 2002 in the Railway Budget presented by Dinesh Trivedi on Wednesday.
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.
Following Mamata's fax to the Prime Minister asking for the sacking of Trivedi just a few hours after he had presented a bold Railway Budget, the Congress Core Group met and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke to the West Bengal Chief Minister, requesting her to wait till the Union Budget is presented on March 16. But Mamata insisted on removal of Trivedi and the Congress agreed, saying that it is her prerogative to choose the Railway Minister.
The meeting at the residence of Manmohan Singh on Wednesday night discussed Mamata Banerjee's opposition to passenger fare hike in the Railway Budget and her demand to replace Trivedi with party colleague Mukul Roy.
With Mamata Banerjee's party making it clear that passenger fare hike was unacceptable, Congress leaders deliberated on the possible options before the UPA Government to pass the Railway Budget.
Comments
0 comment