Dinesh Trivedi hangs on; on track till budget session

New Delhi, Mar 16: With the Union Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi in the eye of the storm after his reform-based Railway Budget presented recently, he had to face some sharp criticism from within his own party, the Trinamool Congress. So much was the irk that one state minister called him a "traitor" for his perceived anti-aam aadmi stance. But in spite of this, there are reports that the UPA will let Trivedi adorn the post till the end of the Budget session.

Rubbishing rumours that Dinesh Trivedi had already submitted his resignation, he said, "I will resign if my party wants me to. But I haven't resigned yet." Meanwhile, sources have claimed that there will be a partial rollback of certain Railway Budget proposals to gain the favour of the Trinamool Congress and its chief Mamata Banerjee.

Mamata, has however made it very clear that the hike in passenger fares cannot be tolerated and that Trivedi will have to be ousted from the post. The fact that the Railway Minister's chair was shaky on the very day the Budget was presented has also caused considerable embarrassment to the Congress.

The occassion has led to the Opposition sharpening its teeth against the UPA. Senior BJP leader and Lead of Opposition, Arun Jaitley has been quoted as saying, "This is a theater of the absurd that's going on here." CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta also commented, "We demand a statement from the Prime Minister."

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee utilizing his firefighting skills stated on the issue, "The letter has been received from Mamata. It's under consideration. But the Opposition shouldn't behave like petulant children."
The Congress has apparently agreed to the TMC's proposal to make Mukul Roy the Railway Minister in place of Dinesh Trivedi.

OneIndia News