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Rediff.com  » News » Cong, Trinamool at loggerheads over a room!

Cong, Trinamool at loggerheads over a room!

By Renu Mittal
August 04, 2011 02:53 IST
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An unholy row has broken out in the Parliament House between the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance and its most critical alliance partner, the Trinamool Congress, over a room for the new Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi.

Room no. 6, just two rooms away from the prime minister's office in Parliament House, has for long been with railway ministers, whether it be Lalu Prasad Yadav or Mamata Banerjee or their predecessors.

And so when Dinesh Trivedi became the new railway minister, he expected that his name-plate would replace that of Mamata Banerjee, but alas, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal had other ideas.

It is the responsibility of the parliamentary affairs minister to allot rooms to various ministers after the Speaker earmarks the rooms which are to be given to them. And of course everyone wants a room on the ground floor because of prestige, easy accessibility and the size of the rooms.

So in the last round when three rooms became vacant on the ground floor with the exit of Mamata banerjee, Dayanidhi Maran and Murli Deora from Cabinet, Bansal decided to allot these rooms to Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Ambika Soni, respectively.

All the three are very senior in the list of ministers and all of them belong to the Congress party. It was decided by Bansal that Dinesh Trivedi may be sent to the first floor, if not the third, since he is not so senior. But because railways require a great deal of space, he was considered for a room on the first floor.

But, when the monsoon session began on August 1, Dinesh found that Ambika Soni's name-plate had been put outside room no. 6. Upset by this he met Pawan Bansal and protested, but he was told that the rooms are not earmarked for ministries but only for ministers in terms of their seniority.

It is learnt that Bansal spoke to Mamata Banerjee also about the matter and invited her to Parliament.

Dinesh then spoke to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who called Bansal and asked for a full explanation on the 'musical chairs' regarding the room.

Former Railway Minister Lalu Yadav, who had asked Dinesh for a meeting on various schemes and issues related to the railways in Bihar, was to meet him in his Parliament House room. But instead the meeting with senior railway officials, including the railway board chairman, Lalu and Dinesh and other officials, took place on the benches in the corridor outside room no. 6, with the matter becoming a prestige issue between the two allies.

Dinesh Trivedi went to the extent of telling a senior Union minister belonging to the Congress party, who had wanted to know the details, that the Trinamool could withdraw support to the UPA as it had over 20 MPs, and this could bring down the government!

The statement was probably made in a fit of anger or may be out of frustration, say friends of Trivedi, but the result was that he has now been assured that his name-plate would be fixed outside room no. 6, and in all probability Ambika Soni would be back on the third floor room which was allotted to her when Priya Ranjan Das Munshi was the parliamentary affairs minister.

Sources said what has compounded the problem was the fact  that the Trinamool Congress, with its enlarged kitty of MPs, has been asking for a bigger room, but so far has not managed to get one.

The Speaker has allotted the room which is in the possession of the Rashtriya Janata Dal to the Trinamool Congress, but the RJD has not vacated the room. The room with the Telugu Desam Party has been allotted to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, but even the TDP has not vacated it. 

So while the Opposition parties and the ruling combine have found common cause and decided to let Parliament transact business, UPA's allies decided to capture that space with the soft spoken Dinesh Trivedi politely pointing out to the Congress that they cannot be treated shabbily!

Image: Union Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi

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Renu Mittal in New Delhi
 
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