New Delhi/Kolkata:
Mamata Banerjee has reportedly refused to wait till the end of March to have her own party's Dinesh Trivedi fired as Railways Minister. The Congress had told her on Thursday to wait till March 30, when Parliament takes a short break, because it wants to minimise the damage caused by Ms Banerjee's request while the union budget and other important legislation is discussed. She has not been persuaded. Speaking to NDTV, Saugato Roy of the Trinamool Congress said last night that the government has till the end of today to remove Trivedi. Sources in the Congress say they will make one more effort to convince Ms Banerjee; if they are unsuccessful, Mr Trivedi may be removed this week.
Ms Banerjee's refusal to compromise may further aggravate the Congress, which is reportedly weighing a break-up with her. In place of the 19 Lok Sabha MPs her Trinamool Congress brings to the UPA, the Congress may co-opt Mulayam Singh Yadav and his 22 Samajwadi Party MPs. Mr Yadav may also be offered a cabinet post.
Ms Banerjee hurtled the government into an unprecedented political crisis on Wednesday by asking for MrTrivedi's removal hours after he presented his Railways Budget. Mr Trivedi, allegedly without consulting his party chief, announced hikes in passenger fares. Ms Banerjee aggressively positions her party as the guardian of the common man or aam aadmi. She wants Mr Trivedi gone and the increase in fares reversed. In a letter to the Prime Minister on Wednesday night, she wrote that the minister should be replaced with her party's Mukul Roy, known to be her confidante and currently the junior minister for Shipping.
In Parliament yesterday, the opposition asked the government a simple question - who is the country's Railways Minister? Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that though the PM had received Ms Banerjee's notice, Mr Trivedi has not resigned yet. "This is a theatre of the absurd," said the BJP's Arun Jaitley, about the new flashpoint between the Congress and Ms Banerjee.
Mr Mukherjee also said in Parliament that he had reviewed the rail budget that Mr Trivedi presented. This will not sit well with Ms Banerjee, who has for a while suspected that Mr Trivedi has been showing political allegiance to the Congress.
Appearing on NDTV last night, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar from the Trinamool Congress described the current dispute as "a fight within a family." But at a meeting of her MLAs in Kolkata yesterday, Ms Banerjee attacked Mr Trivedi and her ally, reportedly describing the controversy as "the work of the Congress."
A "condemnation resolution" was adopted against Mr Trivedi for the Railways Budget he presented on Wednesday. The MLAs at the meeting were advised to visit their constituencies and brief voters on Mr Trivedi's betrayal.
Yesterday, Mr Trivedi said that so far, neither the Prime Minister nor Ms Banerjee has asked him to quit. He will oblige, he said, the minute they do so. Till then, he said, "As Railways Minister, it is my duty to get the Railways Budget passed." Sources close to him say he should have been treated better.