Left out

Ever since Mamata Banerjee took over as railway minister, MPs belonging to the Left parties have been having a problem getting railway tickets confirmed. On at least four occasions in the past few weeks, requests from prominent CPI(M) MPs asking for their tickets to be confirmed have been turned down. CPI(M) leader in Rajya Sabha Sitaram Yechury sent a letter to the ministry on his letterhead last week, asking for a party worker’s ticket to be confirmed.

This did not happen. The next day, Yechury put in another request, this time for his aide; finally the aide had to take a flight to Hyderabad. Two weeks ago, a similar fate was meted out to CPI(M) Politburo member Brinda Karat. An embarrassed Yechury told Business Standard, “I generally avoid making such requests. But at times it becomes necessary.”