New Delhi: Indicating that the exit of
Dinesh Trivedi as Railway Minister was a matter of time,
Trinamool Congress on Thursday said its priority was to ensure a
"complete rollback" of the fare hike announced in the rail
budget.
"Our priority is complete rollback of the hike. How the
government does it, only they have to decide. They can do it
after the discussion on the rail budget or before that. It is
only the government which will have to decide," party leader
Sudip Bandopadhyay told reporters here.
To question on the replacement of Trivedi by Mukul Roy as
sought by Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee in a letter to Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, Bandopadhyay said, "It is a closed
chapter," indicating that the issue had been clinched.
Asked whether they would wait till the debate on the rail
budget was over and a rollback announced, he said, "I only
hope that the rollback will be announced by a new (Railway)
Minister... Wait for the discussion (on rail budget) to take
place."
Noting that the debate on rail budget was slated today,
Bandopadhyay said, "Now it will only be next week. It has been
deferred. This shows the government is also taking its time."
He said Congress has "also agreed to the principle that
in a coalition, the parties send names of those who are to be
inducted into the Council of Ministers or change the names".
Bandopadhyay was replying to questions after a meeting of
party MPs here. The meeting came after he held consultations
with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the issue in the Lok
Sabha on the sidelines of debate on the President`s address.
The Trinamool leader went to Mukherjee`s seat apparently
to discuss the Trivedi issue. The Finance Minister was seen
telling him something and Bandopadhyay grabbed a notepad and
took down the points.
Soon thereafter, Bandopadhyay and other party members -
including Mukul Roy, whom Mamata Banerjee has named as the
replacement for Trivedi as Railway Minister - left the House.
Mukherjee also left within a few seconds.
PTI
