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| Mamata 'shunts' Lalu for Bihar railway projects |
| Saubhadro Chatterji / New Delhi Sep 01, 2009, 00:45 IST |
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Although former railway minister Lalu Prasad is providing outside support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has publicly announced that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar — Prasad’s arch rival — will be consulted for railway projects in that state.
“Earlier Nitish ji was the railway minister and now he has become the chief minister of Bihar. We will work together. I don’t know much about Bihar. So, whatever Nitish ji will say, will be followed as far as railway projects are concerned in Bihar,” Banerjee said after her hour-long meeting with Kumar at Rail Bhawan today. The meeting, according to Trinamool Congress sources, was designed to politically shunt Prasad further away.
Kumar too, said that he is “relieved” now that Banerjee is heading the Railway Ministry. The Bihar chief minister slammed his arch rival, calling his achievements “totally baseless”.
Officially, the Bihar chief minister came to meet Banerjee for just three railway issues. But the meeting was more significant politically as Kumar — belonging to the UPA’s rival camp NDA — showered praises on Banerjee’s performance and signaled a new political friendship with her.
In a decision that is bound to irk Prasad, Banerjee and Kumar today announced setting up of an “institutional mechanism” at the state level to oversee the various ongoing railway projects in Bihar.
Kumar added that this mechanism would also address issues related to land acquisition so that projects can be completed early. By promptly accepting Kumar’s suggestion on this issue, Banerjee also sent a political signal that railway projects in Bihar under Prasad’s regime needed to be monitored.
After giving a list of pending projects in Bihar, Kumar lashed out at Prasad: “I am surprised to see the status of various railway projects in Bihar. He has bluffed the state. If this is the status of projects in Bihar, then you can well imagine what has happened in other parts of the country. During the last five years, my ‘elder brother’ Lalu Prasad has beaten drums about his own achievement which were totally baseless”.
With Banerjee standing next to her, Kumar said: “Her predecessor floated fabricated stories about profits in railway actually he had ruined the Railway and it made losses. The so-called drums of profit were beaten while in reality nothing happened.”
Before Banerjee presented her Budget, Prasad had managed to extract an assurance from her that no Railway factory will be shifted outside the state. But today, Banerjee made it clear that she wants to work closely with Nitish Kumar. She has also agreed to hand over the railway line between Patna and Digha ghat as Kumar wants to build a road replacing the loss-making rail link. Banerjee said, Kumar has agreed to give alternate land to the Railways.
While Banerjee came down to the gate of the Rail Bhawan to bid adieu to Kumar and even said that “he did very good work in Railways” Banerjee perhaps forgot that it was during Kumar’s regime as the Railway Minister that parts of Eastern Railway, headquartered in Kolkata, was taken away to make the new East Central Railway zone based at Bihar’s Hajipur.
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