New Delhi: President Pratibha Patil Thursday accepted the resignation of
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee as railway minister and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will now look after the portfolio, an official spokesperson said.
Banerjee had submitted her resignation earlier Thursday. She will be sworn in Friday as West Bengal's first woman chief minister.
The prime minister will be assisted by Trinamool general secretary and Minister of State for Shipping Mukul Roy, who has been entrusted with the additional charge of railways.
"The President has accepted the resignation of Mamata Banerjee as railway minister. The prime minister will look after the portfolio. Mukul Roy gets the additional charge of MOS Railways," a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson said.
The Congress has decided to join the new West Bengal ministry. The Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance had routed the Left in the assembly election results announced May 13, ending 34 years of communist rule in the state.
IANS
First Published: Thursday, May 19, 2011, 21:45