Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Friday ruled out a hike in train fares, saying a move to that effect was not a solution for improving the fiscal health of the country's largest public transporter.
The Trinamool Congress expects the Congress leadership to keep its "word" on removal of Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi even as he asserted that Railways is nobody's fiefdom.
The development comes about a week after Roy said that the work has slowed down especially during the last eight to nine months apparently making a veiled attack on his predecessor, who is also a fellow party leader.
Asserting that Trinamool will not rock the United Progressive Alliance boat, party leader and Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi went into damage control mode on Thursday after his remarks that the country may head for a mid-term poll and the Union government was lame duck created a flutter in political circles.
A trained pilot, Dinesh Trivedi has a challenging task ahead in putting the Railways on track after his boss and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee often came under attack for alleged neglect of this key ministry hit by train accidents in the recent days.
Two months after Dinesh Trivedi was removed as railway minister, his party Trinamool Congress continued to target him for hiking passenger fares and advised his successor Mukul Roy on Thursday to follow the policies of Mamata Banerjee in running the organisation. Trivedi was removed from the railway ministry a few days after he presented the rail budget, in which he hiked passenger fares.
Trinamool Congress sacks minister for raising passenger fares by 8-22%.
The Trinamool Congress, which has asked Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi to quit his post, on Saturday rejected his demand that party supremo Mamata Banerjee should say so in writing to him. "Nothing will be given in writing," Trinamool Congress parliamentary party leader in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandyopadhay told reporters when he was leaving the state secretariat with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, after a meeting which lasted over three hours.
A day after proposing fare hike in the rail budget which has threatened his job, a defiant Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Thursday said he would repeat the same if asked to present the budget again.
On a day of dramatic developments, The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday night sought the removal of its senior-most nominee in the Union Cabinet, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, hours after he proposed a hike in railway passenger fares, plunging the UPA government in an unusual political crisis.
Aiming to take railways to the next generation, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Thursday said his department has prepared a blue print envisaging Rs 14 lakh crore investment in the next 10 years.
After a five-day waiting game, Railways Minister Dinesh Tiwari has resigned, according to Trinamool Congress sources. Tiwari met with TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, and expressed his willingness to quit.
Soon after he takes oath as Railways minister on Tuesday, Trinamool Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi will be heading to Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh where a train derailed two days ago, killing 68 people
A decision on the fate of Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi is expected "any moment", Trinamool leader Sudip Bandopadhyay on Friday said.
Observing that freight charges cannot keep subsidising the passenger fare, Trivedi said, "One thing is linked with another and you cannot keep on increasing your freight charges and freight cannot keep on subsidising the fare."
Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Wednesday said investigation into the train collision which left nine persons dead would go into all details to ensure such mishaps do not recur, but said it was "too early to blame anybody".
New Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Tuesday night faced protest from family members of the passengers injured in the Kalka Mail accident and was also heckled as he visited a hospital in Fatehpur.
The Congress core group met at the prime minister's residence late on Wednesday night and weighed options to deal with the demand made by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to sack Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi.
Trinamool politics set to trump prudence on passenger fares.
"The Railways today has become a mess," former railway minister Dinesh Trivedi told rediff.com as he spoke about the fire on the Tamil Nadu Express that claimed 37 lives in the wee hours of Monday. "Cancer has set in the Railways years back. It's like a disease that has never been treated and hence people continue to die."
Terming the train accident at Sitheri station in Tamil Nadu as "very unfortunate" Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Wednesday said all efforts will be undertaken to prevent such mishaps in future.
Soon after Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram presented the Union Budget 2013 in Parliament, Trinamool Congress leader and former Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi joined us for the Budget chat.
"No one is above party discipline. Dinesh Trivedi did not consult me or Mukul Roy (the party all India general secretary)," party insiders quoted Banerjee telling the Trinamool Congress legislature party meeting ahead of the budget session of the West Bengal legislative assembly.
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.
He was elected to Rajya Sabha on a seat left vacant after TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi joined the BJP before the recent West Bengal assembly elections.
The incident has brought back into focus the controversy that erupted last year when BJP-led governments in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand directed food outlets along the Kanwar route to display the names of their owners and staff.
Asked whether Trivedi would remain as railway minister, he said, "Trivedi is an individual. Trinamool Congress is of the opinion that he should not remain as railway minister unless he withdraws the hike (passenger fares in the railway budget).
Let's take a look at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's new team:
Dinesh Trivedi, Union minister of state for health, had offered to resign in a letter written to Anna Hazare within first few hours of his fast at Jantar Mantar on April 5.
BJP MPs from Gujarat met Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi and submitted a memorandum requesting new railway projects, including that of a bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai.
Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Tuesday said he was planning to set up an independent safety and security board to strengthen passenger and freight security.
'Vijaya Raje Scindia had assured the prime minister that nothing would happen to the Babri Masjid'
Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi has not resigned, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha on Thursday
Banerjee tweeted that as a part of her "constant endeavour" towards women's empowerment, she was proud that half of the nominees were women.
The first double decker air conditioned train between Howrah and Dhanbad was flagged off on 1 Oct 2011.
The Election Commission had on July 16 said that bypoll to the Rajya Sabha seat from West Bengal vacated by Dinesh Trivedi earlier this year will be held on August 9.
Preliminary investigation into the train accident at Sitheri has found that it took place due to over-speeding of the Electric Multiple Unit train, which rammed into a stationary train, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi said on Wednesday.
Dinesh Trivedi, a member of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, says, "Our government is seriously bothered about Anna's health. Why is Team Anna not requesting Annaji to break his fast, even once? I believe the government is more worried about Anna's health than even Team Anna."
Former minister for Railways Dinesh Trivedi speaks exclusively to rediff.com on a day when the Railway Budget will be presented in Parliament.
