Farewell for Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi after fare hike
NEW DELHI: Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi's maiden budget triggered a full-blown crisis at the Centre when his own party, the Trinamool Congress, termed acrossthe-board passenger fare hikes as a "hostile act" and asked the PM to sack him.
Late Wednesday evening, Trinamool leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to replace Trivedi with Mukul Roy, a Trinamool MP.
The core committee of the Congress, which met at the PM's residence late in the night, was of the view that there is little option but to drop Trivedi.
Trivedi is likely to resign on Thursday. Mamata, in her conversation with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, is learnt to have insisted that Mukul Roy should announce the rollback in passenger fare hike.
Earlier, Singh described the budget as "forwardlooking" and Trivedi defended the fare hikes as something taken in the interest of the railways and the nation even as Banerjee expressed her displeasure saying the episode had damaged her party's "Maa, Mati, Manush" image.
"We are unhappy with the railway budget. We are against any hike in passenger fares and we will oppose the move. I am assuring you that we will not allow any hike," she said while addressing a meeting in Nandigram. Trivedi himself had appeared reconciled to losing his ministry, judging by his defiant performance in a string of interviews to television channels. "It is a very big misconception that the railways is run from the Writer's Building (headquarters of West Bengal government)."
He conceded that he could not continue in the government without Banerjee's backing. "Mamata Banerjee made me a minister. If she gives the slightest hint, I will resign," Trivedi said. Trivedi's performance led to speculation by talking heads on TV channels that his actions had the tacit backing of the Congress leadership and were intended to provoke a showdown with Banerjee.
A Realignment of Political Forces?
Earlier in the day, Sudeep Bandopadhyay, Trinamool's leader in Lok Sabha, met Trivedi at his parliamentary chambers soon after the budget presentation to convey Banerjee's directive. "Withdraw the hike or quit", was the message to the minister.
"If the government persists with the hike, we will move a cut motion," he said. Defeat in the course of voting on a money bill such as the Railway Budget will lead to the collapse of the government. The turn of events surprised even the most experienced of politicians. "The development is unique. There may not be any constitutional crisis due to what has happened, but it is certainly without precedence in parliamentary politics," said former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.
If the Congress chooses to take on Trinamool, it may not find it easy to force a realignment on the rail budget issue as not many parties will be willing to bail out a government facing crisis over a price hike.
But some say the fear of early polls could prompt the government's outside supporters, notably the SP and BSP, to offer it safe passage that could be contingent upon the Centre's willingess to make changes in the railway budget.
Trinamool Congress appears to believe that the Congress has a "Plan B" that involves seeking the support of or ensuring abstentions by the SP and BSP in Parliament. But this will be a difficult task as these two parties, known to be hard bargainers, will extract a heavy price for their "issue-based" backing. The prime minister, for his part, said his government was stable. "We have all the numbers," Singh said.
PRAISE FOR BUDGET
Trivedi's budget won praise from the pro-reforms lobby. "The railway minister focused on critical areas like safety which needed immediate attention," Sanjiv Goenka, chairman, RP-Sanjiv Goenka group, said. Political observers were, however, unanimous that Trivedi would have to look for a new political home. Trinamool insiders said Banerjee was unhappy over Trivedi's cosy relationship with important functionaries of the Congress.
"He must have been anticipating his loss of ministership and decided to go down as a reform hero," said a party leader who did not wish to be named. According to him, it would be "politically suicidal" for the Trinamool to back a hike in rail fares at a time it is opposing a hike in fuel prices. "We will not allow our Bengal political copybook to be soiled by this decision," the leader said.
TMC REBELLION TO WEAKEN THE CENTRE
Trinamool Congress' stand on the rail budget has once again demonstrated the trust deficit within the ruling coalition at the Centre. That the party was determined to complicate matters for the Congress became evident when its leaders said their members would back the Opposition's motion seeking the deletion of the reference to the National Counter-Terrorism Centre from the President's address.
The Congress party, which appeared reconciled to this, indicated that it could put up with the embarrassment. The Congress' stand is in stark contrast with the view expressed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday. He had gone to the extent of saying such a move could lead to the unravelling of the government. Trinamool, however, is unlikely to withdraw support from the UPA government in the immediate future, some analysts said.
Rail Budget 2012: Farewell for Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi after fare hike - The Economic Times
