Lalu to visit World Bank after Presidential poll

New Delhi, July 1 (UNI) Railway Minister Lalu Prasad will keep his long-deferred tryst with the World Bank soon after the July 19 Presidential elections.

''I had to go.... but something or the other used to come up.

Now, I will probably go over to them after the Presidential elections,'' he told UNI.

Mr Prasad was earlier slated to visit the World Bank on April 10, to recount his success story which led to a spectacular turnaround of the Railways, manifested by the Rs 20,000 crore augmentation of the cash reserves of the entity that was teetering on the brink of a collapse some six years ago.

However, the trip -- the first-ever by any Minister to the world's premier financial body -- had to be deferred because of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

''The itinerary of the minister for his US visit is being chalked out. Besides addressing a meeting of the World Bank, he is all set to divulge his success mantra in the US' Silicon Valley and on the campuses of Harvard Business School and Stanford University,'' a top Railway Ministry official said.

Incidentally, Mr Prasad will be the first government minister anywhere in the world for having been invited to deliver a lecture at the World Bank, with such an honour normally reserved for the CEOs of profit-making multinational companies like GE, Nissan, Chrysler and others.

''Mr Prasad has become the first minister of a country for receiving such an invitation by the Bank. He wil be the keynote speaker on the theme of Indian Railways' Turnaround,'' the official said.

The minister's programme at the World Bank includes addressing a meeting on reforms in Indian Railways and the role of the PPPs, an investors' meeting and a meeting with the Bank's South Asia Region Management and rail experts.

Apart from addressing India Forum of the World Bank, he is also likely to deliver lectures at Stanford University and Harvard Business School.

The University of Chicago has also shown interest in inviting the Railway Minister and efforts were on to dovetail this engagement.

''All this shows that the US business experts and CEOs are absolutely mesmerised by the persona of the minister and the incredible turnaround of the Indian Railways,'' the official said.

Earlier, a group of international students from Harvard Business School had visited the capital to hear from Mr Prasad his success story, and were followed by students from McCombs School of Business, University of Texas and Darden Business School, University of Virginia.

Next were the prospective business honchos of MIT's Sloan School of Management and a group of civil and defence officials from the National Defence University of America.

While in India, Mr Prasad had delivered lectures at the country's leading business school -- the Indian Institute of Management.

Ahmedabad --, NASSCOM and to Indian Foreign Service probationers and several high-ranking diplomats at the Foreign Services Institute here.

UNI