Dinesh Trivedi resignation: Will consider replacing him if situation arises,says PM

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In a written communique to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,Mamata Banerjee demanded her party colleague Mukul Roy be appointed the new Railway Minister.

Pranab Mukherjee also confirmed in the House that Dinesh Trivedi had not resigned.

“As and when a decision will be taken,the House will be informed,” Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha without divulging details of the communication which,he said,was received late last night.

On replacing Trivedi,the Prime Minister later said: ”If anything like this develops,we will consider it.”

In the morning,Trivedi occupied the front row in the Lok Sabha which is usually occupied by senior ministers. He maintained it was his ”prime duty” to get the rail budget passed.

Mukherjee’s statement came after an impromptu debate in the House with opposition members seeking suspension of Question Hour on the plea that an “unprecedented and unusual” situation had arisen following the reported resignation of Trivedi.

Leader of Trinamool Congress in the House Sudip Bandopadhyay said his party members have not asked the Railway Minister to tender his resignation. “The matter has to be settled between my leader and the Prime Minister,” Bandopadhyay said.

Trivedi had earlier said he had not put in his papers but would do so if the Prime Minister or Mamata asked him.

Trivedi said he would be answering questions in Parliament today on the rail budget.

“I will not leave my duty,” he told a Bengali news channel when asked about media reports that he had already resigned.

Trivedi said either the Prime Minister or his party leader Mamata Banerjee has to tell him to resign. “I will not take a minute to go,” he said.

He again justified his Budget in which he had proposed a hike in passenger fares,which earned him the wrath of party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

He said what he had done was in the interest of the railways and the country.

He said as a disciplined soldier of the party he would “abide by whatever the leader says and the discipline of the party”.

The minister was briefed by senior railway officials about the ‘question answer session’ in Lok Sabha today on his Budget.

Angered by Trivedi’s proposal contained in the Railway Budget yesterday,Banerjee had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last night seeking his immediate removal. The party wanted Trivedi to be replaced by Mukul Roy,currently Minister of State for Shipping. Roy had earlier served in the Railway Ministry but was not the Prime minister’s choice for the Cabinet post.

“Yes,I have written to the Prime Minister seeking his replacement with Mukul Roy,another Union Minister,” Mamata has said.

Mamata also spoke to the Congress leadership in Delhi to press for the removal of Trivedi and is said to have been assured it would be done.

She is said to have been assured that Trivedi would be replaced by Roy after the presentation of the General Budget by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday.

In fact,Mukul Roy would be replying to the Railway Budgetary Demands for Grants before this month-end,highly placed TMC sources had said.