With the Trinamul Congress expected to withdraw its ministers from the UPA on Friday, all eyes are on the likely replacement for incumbent minister Mukul Roy. A section within the Congress is of the view that the party should have its own nominee as the railway minister.
Speculation is also rife that if at all the Samajwadi Party decides to fill in the vacancies created by the TMC, the party may ask for railways, which incidentally has been with the alliance partners for a long time.
However, the SP may not join the government given the focus of party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in giving shape to the elusive third front.
With the TMC nominees at the helms of affairs in railways — currently Mukul Roy and earlier Dinesh Trivedi — the Congress leaders are of the view that the measures needed to bring the national carrier to its health have been stonewalled. Even after the rail fare hike announced in this year’s Rail Budget, Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, in a dramatic development, had eased out Mr Trivedi to stall steps proposed to boost the revenue of the railways.
“With focus on infrastructure development in a big way, which includes a number of rail projects, it will be better if a Congress leader becomes the minister at Rail Bhavan to initiate modernisation of railways, which will also require upwardly passenger fare revision,” said a senior Congress leader.
Incidentally, the rail coach factory in the constituency of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli is still awaiting full operationalisation due to a number of reasons. “Railways urgently needs a minister who can give full-time attention to its requirements, unlike Mr Roy who has been found missing from Delhi regularly to attend to party works,” added the Congress leader.
However, if Mr Roy exits from railways, a number of projects coming up in West Bengal may get affected.