New Delhi: A day before train journeys start costing substantially more, the government is being asked to withdraw the hike in fares by its own lawmakers from Maharashtra, where assembly elections are expected in October.
A group of MPs from the BJP and the Shiv Sena met Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda this morning to stress the impact that the new fares will have on lakhs of commuters in Mumbai, whose daily routine is navigated by the local trains which will cost twice as much starting tomorrow. Some 75 lakh commuters travel on these trains each day.
"The Railways Minister assured us that feelings of Mumbaikars will be considered," said the BJP's Kirit Somaiya after the meeting.
For 15 years, the BJP and Sena have been consigned to the role of the opposition in Maharashtra. But in the recent national election, the alliance won 41 of the state's 48 seats, suggesting that a window has opened for wresting power from the coalition of the Congress and Sharad Pawar's NCP which has governed the state since 1999.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and other BJP leaders have defended the hike as necessary; they say the previous UPA government backtracked on a plan to increase fares just before the national election, leaving the unpopular decision to Narendra Modi's new administration. (Rail Fare Hike Difficult But Correct Decision, Says Finance Minister Arun Jaitley)
A group of MPs from the BJP and the Shiv Sena met Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda this morning to stress the impact that the new fares will have on lakhs of commuters in Mumbai, whose daily routine is navigated by the local trains which will cost twice as much starting tomorrow. Some 75 lakh commuters travel on these trains each day.
"The Railways Minister assured us that feelings of Mumbaikars will be considered," said the BJP's Kirit Somaiya after the meeting.
For 15 years, the BJP and Sena have been consigned to the role of the opposition in Maharashtra. But in the recent national election, the alliance won 41 of the state's 48 seats, suggesting that a window has opened for wresting power from the coalition of the Congress and Sharad Pawar's NCP which has governed the state since 1999.
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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and other BJP leaders have defended the hike as necessary; they say the previous UPA government backtracked on a plan to increase fares just before the national election, leaving the unpopular decision to Narendra Modi's new administration. (Rail Fare Hike Difficult But Correct Decision, Says Finance Minister Arun Jaitley)
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