Opp. criticises Mamata budget
Railway minister Mamata Banerjee was roundly criticised by several Opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha on Friday for coming up with a Bengal-centric rail budget in view of the coming Assembly polls there while ignoring the needs of their respective areas. The minister, of course, was stoutly defended by her party’s chief whip in the House, Sudip Bandopadhyay.
The discussion was also marked by some skirmishes between some of the Opposition MPs and Ms Banerjee with the latter at times intervening while they spoke to either dispute their claims or to give her side of the facts.
There was also a minor clash with a CPI-M MP from Kerala, M.B. Rajesh, who complained that the railways had not kept its promise to build a rail coach factory in Palakkad while Ms Banerjee. The minister responded to tell him: “I have announced Palakkad coach factory and it will be done.”
The initial part of the Rail Budget also saw the government being put to some embarrassment with the Leader of the Opposition, Sushma Swaraj, pointing out the empty treasury benches. “The debate is taking place on the Rail Budget which is one of the three most important subjects along with the motion on the President’s address and the general budget. But all the treasury benches are empty,” she remarked.
When Ms Swaraj made these remarks, Ms Banerjee and her deputy, minister of state for railways, K. Muniyappa sat on the treasury benches with barely 13 other MPs occupying the benches. Ms Banerjee glanced back and appeared visibly amused to see many vacant rows behind her.
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