Most of the political parties including key UPA ally Trinamul Congress on Wednesday demanded withdrawal of the proposed hike in passenger fare in the Rail Budget, which was presented by former railways minister Dinesh Trivedi.
Participating in the debate on Rail Budget in Lok Sabha Trinamul member Kalyan Banerjee said, “Kindly roll back the price hike proposed in respect of poor... Give relief to the poor people.” He specifically wanted rollback in the second and general categories of passenger fares.
Apparently taking a dig at Mr Trivedi, who belongs to his party, Mr Banerjee said some people think that by raising taxes one becomes intellectual.
“If you ignore the condition of poor, then you become prudent,” he said, while showering praises on new minister Mukul Roy, who is also a Trinamul member.
He hoped that the new minister would utilise his “dedication and sincerity” to take railways forward with the blessings of Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. Another TMC participant Ratna De echoed Mr Banerjee sentiments in her speech.
However, several non-Trinamul members expressed sympathy with Mr Trivedi for being removed over fare hike and took dig at the ruling coalition for the first-of-its-kind development when a minister had to resign even before he could reply to the debate on a budget presented by him.
Taking potshots, Yogi Adityanath of BJP said, “When he (Trivedi) announced fare hike, we realised what is going to happen... We suspected that something is fishy.” He said there was “no reason” for increasing passenger fares at a time when a “dangerous” situation has been created by the inflation.
In Rajya Sabha also the government came under attack over Mr Trivedi’s removal. Participating in the discussion on the rail budget BSP’s SP Singh Baghel said that the episode of recent change of guard at the railways ministry had lowered the credibility of the government.