Dinesh Trivedi pays for passenger fare hike, quits as Railway Minister

The writing was on the wall and Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi completed the formalities on Sunday, resigning from the post he held close to his heart.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader became the latest victim of coalition compulsions after digging his heels for five tense days.

His Railway Budget was lauded for its visionary steps, albeit perceived as anti-poor by his own party, but he had to finally quit because a miffed Mamata Banerjee wanted him to.


Trinamool sources said Trivedi spoke to Mamata, telling her how much he respects her and that her wish was his command.

This was in stark contrast to his stance as late as Sunday morning, when he made statements like "the railway ministry is nobody's fief".

"I do not want to stick to the ministry. But I also do not want to run away. The PM has to decide on it (his resignation). There should not be any politics with the ministry. Railway kisi ki jagir nahin hai (the railways is nobody's fiefdom)," he said in the morning.

Mamata, too, refused to budge. She arrived in Delhi late on Sunday night to preside over a meeting of the Trinamool parliamentary party.

FIGHT TO FINISH Dinesh Trivedi presents his first Budget as railway minister on March 14; proposes a marginal hike in fares Mamata Banerjee and the entire TMC brass see red and term the Budget "unpopulist" On March 15, Mamata shoots off a letter to the Prime Minister, demanding that Trivedi be sacked On March 17, TMCs chief whip Kalyan Banerjee asks Trivedi to step down as railway minister; a defiant Trivedi refuses saying he would only do so if Mamata herself asks him to On March 18, Trivedi finally resigns after a discussion with Mamata; will remain in the party

Trivedi, in the meantime, was apparently told that Mamata was in Delhi to pull out all her ministers from the UPA government and offer issue-based outside support.

Soon after, Trivedi called Mamata, who he said asked him not to forget the fact that it was the party that made "me the railway minister".

"Her instructions were very clear. It is the party which has decided (his resignation) and like a soldier I must obey party discipline. That is the way I have been trained," he added.

His tame withdrawal was an anti-climax to the stiff defiance he put up over the past five days refusing to quit unless Mamata specifically asked him to do so.

"I have high regard for her. She is a great leader and is very much in her right to have her opinion, and I respect her opinion. I have deep regard for her. This confusion could have been averted had (TMC MP) Sudip Bandopadhyay not spoken in Parliament," he said.

He said Bandopadhyay had stated in the Lok Sabha that the TMC has not asked the railway minister to resign. The political spat got murkier when the party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Kalyan Banerjee, asked Trivedi to resign following which the minister had asked Mamata to give the instruction in writing.

"I must thank our party leader, the entire cabinet and Prime Minister Manmohan Singhji for giving me this opportunity," he added.

"I tried my level best to do whatever little I could do and in the interest of the railways and in the interest of the country. I am very happy. I must take this opportunity to thank the Railway Board and my 14 lakh employees of the rail family."

Courtesy: Mail Today