Mamata wins, Dinesh Trivedi to resign, rollback fare hike: Sources
The Congress has decided to accelerate its courtship of Mulayam Singh Yadav as a possible replacement for Ms Banerjee, who has whipped the government into submission on many occasions because her 19 Lok Sabha MPs make her essential to the survival of the
On Wednesday morning, Dinesh Trivedi presented his first railway budget in Parliament. Late on Wednesday night, sources said, he sent in his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who will forward it to the President. That came after Mr Trivedi's party chief, Mamata Banerjee, wrote to the PM asking for Mr Trivedi to be fired as Railways Minister. Ms Banerjee is punishing Mr Trivedi for announcing a nominal hike in train passenger fares in his budget.
Sources say Ms Banerjee's close aide and the Trinamool man who was her original choice to replace her as Railway Minister last year, Mukul Roy, will now take over from Mr Trivedi.
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In her letter to the PM, Ms Banerjee has asked for Mr Roy, who is Minister of State for Shipping, to replace Mr Trivedi. Sources say she is also likely to get her way on a rollback of the hike in rail fares announced by Mr Trivedi; this is likely to happen after March 16, the day Union Budget will be presented in Parliament. And with this, Ms Banerjee has proved that in its current state, the Congress cannot refuse any demand she presents.
The railway budget presented by Mr Trivedi in Parliament on Wednesday had been described by the PM as progressive and modern. But after Ms Banerjee disagreed with it vehemently, the Congress' senior most leaders, including party president Sonia Gandhi, met at the Prime Minister's residence last night and weighed options to deal with the Trinamool Congress chief's demands. At the meeting, sources say, it was decided that its upto Ms Banerjee to decide her nominee to the union cabinet. The Congress leadership also decided, sources said, that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee would talk to Ms Banerjee to tell her that her demand for a rollback of the fare hike would be met after he presented the general budget on Friday.
Mr Trivedi's removal will make political history - this is the first time that a minister will be removed even before Parliament debates his budget. J&K Chief Minister and UPA ally Omar Abdullah, tweeted on Thursday morning, "Long after other #railway ministers are forgotten #DineshTriwedi will still be an answer to a General Knowledge or Entrance test question."
After announcing his Rail Budget yesterday, Mr Trivedi said he had done his duty and "now it is upto God." The hike in fares he announced were nominal, ranging from two paise per kilometre to 30 paise per kilometre. But soon after, he was attacked by his own party for announcing the first hike in fares in nine years. First, the Trinamool's Rajya Sabha MP Derek O Brien, tweeted, "Railway Budget... what was all that about increasing fares across the board? Upper class... maybe ok... but all? Sorry, cannot agree." Then, fellow TMC minister Sudip Bandopadhyay demanded that the hike be withdrawn. "We are opposing because of our party leader Mamata Banerjee who has taught us to protect interests of poor people."
The final word from Ms Banerjee came a little after 4 pm. She declared at a rally in Nandigram in Bengal, "We will not accept the hike, be sure of that." Ms Banerjee then headed back to Kolkata and reportedly wrote to the PM at around 8.30 in the evening asking that Mr Trivedi be removed. She has also summoned Mr Trivedi to Kolkata.
Earlier in the day, sources said that Mr Trivedi had been ordered by Ms Banerjee to either resign or roll back the increased prices. He had then indicated that he would not change his mind. Referring to the precarious financial health of the railways, he said, "The railways was getting into the ICU and I have pulled it out of ICU. You cannot have everything together." In a lengthy interview to NDTV later in the day, he suggested that he was prepared for his dismissal. He also acknowledged that he had not briefed Ms Banerjee about the hike in fares. (Read: Dinesh Trivedi speaks to NDTV)
Internally, say sources, the Trinamool Congress believes that if they don't oppose this hike they will find it difficult to object to the next petrol or diesel price hike - something they have done in the past to prove they stand for the aam admi or common man.
Sources also say that Ms Banerjee has been upset with Mr Trivedi for a while now, possibly because of his perceived closeness to the Congress. He also ran into trouble last week when he said that his party may not be opposed to early general elections, which means the UPA would not last its full term. Ms Banerjee later said that her MPs had been asked not to express their personal views.
Meanwhile, the Congress has decided to accelerate its courtship of Mulayam Singh Yadav as a possible replacement for Ms Banerjee, who has whipped the government into submission on many occasions because her 19 Lok Sabha MPs make her essential to the survival of the coalition. Mr Yadav's 22 MPs make him a viable option and he has often rescued the government by voting in its favour on crucial legislation. So senior Congress leaders like Pawan Bansal will attend the swearing-in today of his son, Akhilesh, as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
