Rail budget row: Congress steps up outreach to defuse crisis

The row over rail fare hikes and speculation about Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi's resignation on Thursday rocked both house of parliament, with the government deferring the resolution of the crisis till after Friday's budget and attributing it to the pulls of coalition politics.

Trying to downplay the row, the Trinamool Congress clarified that a decision on Trivedi's resignation will be taken in consultation between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the party chief Mamata Banerjee. In a seeming respite to the beleagured Congress-led government, the Trinamool assured that it will not destabilise the government.

According to informed sources, there are two possible scenarios. Firstly, the government agrees to either a total or a partial rollback of hike in fares  - leading to a truce between the TMC and the Congress-led government.

Alternately, the government sticks to the fare hikes, provoking a belligerent Banerjee to move a cut motion in the budget session, leading to the sense of the house being recorded and a vote taken. This will effectively  mean a parting of ways between the UPA and the Trinamool, as the government looks for a new ally (possibly the Samajwadi Party, which has 22 MPs) to save it.

Amid a concerted onslaught by the opposition in parliament,   Trinamool parliamentary group leader Sudip Bandopadhyay said:  “I categorically want to say that the government of UPA II is properly settled and it will complete its term.”

He added in the Lok Sabha that the Trinamool had not asked Trivedi to resign for presenting a budget that sought to increase rail fares for the first time in a decade.

A defensive government, however, got more breathing space after another critical ally, the DMK, also said that it too remained with the Manmohan Singh government. "We are part of UPA II and will remain with UPA II," DMK MP T.R. Baalu said.

The Congress put up a brave face after coming under attack in parliament over the latest political storm, saying differences within a coalition were but natural.

"These things have happened in the past too," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters. "Each (coalition partner) has different political compulsions.

"It is unfortunate but the leadership is looking at it," she added.

Congress MP Raashid Alvi also stressed that it was an internal affair of the government and it could not be discussed outside.

The fire fighting started after an explosive start to the fourth day of parliament's budget session, with an an aggressive opposition determined to embarrass the government over the Trinamool's strident demand that the rail fare hikes be rolled back.

Trivedi, who was earlier thought to have resigned, did not speak in the Lok Sabha Thursday. But he smiled when Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the house that he (Trivedi) had not resigned.

Mukherjee admitted that a letter had been received from Banerjee demanding the scrapping of the rail fare hikes. After an unrelenting opposition forced an adjournment of the house during question hour, Mukherjee chided the government's critics for behaving like “petulant children".

But speculation persisted that Banerjee wanted Trivedi to be replaced by another Trinamool stalwart and Minister of State for Shipping Mukul Roy.

Mukherjee also told the Lok Sabha that the railway budget was now the property of the house, which would vote on the proposals.

He also took responsibility for preparation of the railway budget, saying only the finance minister's approval was needed and not that of either the prime minister or the cabinet.

Later, speaking outside the house, the mild-mannered Trivedi reiterated that he had not been asked to resign by the prime minister or Banerjee but he would go if he was asked to.

He, however, gently contradicted Banerjee's claim that the party was not aware of his move to raise rail fares. And in remarks bound to displease Banerjee, he said he was duty-bound to defend the budget.

Earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj asked some pointed questions: "Is Dinesh Trivedi's rail budget dead or alive?"

At a press conference, BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu lambasted the Congress-led government, saying it was falling apart, brick by brick, due to distrust with its key allies. "There is no governance. The foundations of this government are being shaken, brick by brick," he said.

Ironically, support for Banerjee's demand came from her biggest foe, the Left.

Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta said the budget sought to impose a financial burden on the common man and so was not acceptable to his party.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) too came out with a detailed point-by-point criticism of the budget.