INDIA RAILWAY FARE INCREASE PUTS MINISTER'S JOB ON LINE

NEW DELHI, India - Federal Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi (right photo) may have to quit. In a bizarre development, the Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has asked Trivedi to either roll back the hike in passenger fares or resign from the post.
Trivedi, who replaced Banerjee as the Railways Minister from the Trinamool Congress quota after Banerjee became the West Bengal chief minister in May last year, presented his first railway budget on Wednesday, increasing passenger fares ranging between three to 30 paise per km in his bid to increase revenues to meet the cost of modernisation and improved safety. Rail fares were hiked for the first time in eight years.

• Even before Trivedi had finished presenting the budget, his Trinamool Congress colleagues were up on their feet to protest the hike outdoing the opposition.
• "We are opposing because our party leader Mamata Banerjee taught us to protect the interests of poor people. We have told Dinesh Trivedi to withdraw the hike. The party has not discussed anything with the minister on the railway budget," senior Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay said.
• It is widely speculated that the hike and the subsequent protest was part of Banerjee's theatrics to show she is the true champion of the masses, as observers feel it was not possible that the Trinamool leadership was not aware of the impending hike in passenger fares as it was being written widely in local newspapers.

The Congress party, which heads the ruling coalition, however, says that there is no scope for the rollback, fuelling speculations that the Congress party may be fanning a rebellion within the Trinamool Congress in a bid to weaken it considering Banerjee has been proving a pain in the neck of the party with her maverick brand of politics.
But Trivedi left none in doubt by listing his priorities by saying his first loyalty is to the country, then to his family and the loyalty to the party comes after these.

Source: AP