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The Railway Minister, Mr Dinesh Trivedi, whose removal has been demanded by his party leader and Trinamool Congress boss, Ms Mamata Banerjee, today said that he has not resigned as yet.
However, he made it clear that he would resign the moment the Prime Minister or Ms Mamata Banerjee ask him to do.
A day after Mamata Banerjee demands his sacking, the Railway Minister, Mr Dinesh Trivedi, has said that he will reply to Ministry queries in the Lok Sabha.
“I will not leave my duty,” he told Bengali news channel Star Ananda when asked about media reports that he has already resigned.
Mr Trivedi said either the Prime Minister or his party leader, Ms Mamata Banerjee, has to tell him to resign. “It will not take him a minute to go,” he said.
He again justified his Budget presented yesterday in which he had proposed a hike in passenger fares which earned him the wrath of his party chief and the West Bengal Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee.
He said what he had done was in the interest of the railways and the country. He said as a disciplined soldier of the party “I will abide by whatever the leader says and the discipline of the party.’’
The Minister is being briefed by senior railway officials about the question answers session due in Lok Sabha today.
Angered by Mr Trivedi’s proposal contained in the Railway Budget, Ms Banerjee had written to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, last night seeking his removal and replacement by Mr Mukul Roy, currently the Minister of State for Shipping who had earlier served in the Railway Ministry.
“Yes, I have written to the Prime Minister seeking his replacement with Mukul Roy, another Union Minister,” Ms Banerjee had said.
She also spoke to the Congress leadership in Delhi to press for the removal of Mr Trivedi and is said to have been assured that it will be done.
She is said to have been assured that Mr Trivedi will be replaced by Mr Roy after the presentation of the General Budget by the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, on Friday.
In fact, Mr Mukul Roy would be replying to the Railway Budgetary Demands for Grants before this month-end, highly placed TMC sources had said.
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