New Delhi:
Despite Mamata Banerjee's request to the Prime Minister, her party's Dinesh Trivedi has not been dismissed yet as the Railways Minister. His decision to hike passenger fares yesterday has incensed Ms Banerjee, who heads the Trinamool Congress and is a key member of the UPA.
Ten big developments today:1) Mamata Banerjee has reportedly rejected the Congress' request to wait till the end of March for Trivedi to be removed. Congress wanted to minimise disruptions by opposition in Parliament over Trivedi. Parliament breaks for a few days on the 30th.
2) Speaking to NDTV, Saugato Roy of the Trinamool Congress said tonight that the government has till the end of day tomorrow to remove Trivedi.
3) After Ms Banerjee's refusal to wait till March 30, sources in the Congress say they will make one more effort to convince her; if they are unsuccessful, Mr Trivedi may be removed this week. He will be replaced by Mukul Roy, who has been named by Mamata in her letter to the PM.
4) Congress is reportedly weighing whether to re-boot the UPA. In place of Mamata's 19 Lok Sabha MPs, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati together would offer support of 43 MPs. Mayawati would provide external support. Mr Yadav may be offered a Cabinet post.
5) Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who is from Mamata's party, denied reports of an impending split. "If Mamata wanted to quit, why would she nominate a replacement (for Trivedi)?" she asked on NDTV's The Buck Stops Here.
6) At a meeting of her MLAs in Kolkata this afternoon, Ms Banerjee says the entire crisis is "the work of the Congress." At the same meeting, "a condemnation resolution is passed against Mr Trivedi for his Budget. "Nobody is above party discipline," Mamata Banerjee tells attendees, asks them to go to their constituencies and update voters on Trivedi's "betrayal."
7) In Parliament, BJP's Sushma Swaraj asks government to explain whether Mr Trivedi is still the Railways Minister after his boss asked for him to be fired. "This is a theatre of the absurd," says the BJP's Arun Jaitley about Ms Banerjee's demand, and the Congress' response. The BJP says it is ready for mid-term polls.
8) Pranab Mukherjee says Mamata Banerjee's letter requesting Trivedi's dismissal has been received but the PM has yet to take a decision about what happens next.
9) Dinesh Trivedi defies Mamata's orders and attends Parliament. He refers to himself as Railways Minister and says it is his duty to get the Railways Budget passed. Trivedi also says he will quit the minute Mamata or PM ask him to.
10) Congress sends Pawan Kumar Bansal and Motilal Vohra to Lucknow to attend the swearing-in of Akhilesh, who is Mulayam's son. When asked about whether his father will support the government at the centre, Akhilesh says only Mulayam will decide.