In an apparent bid to take a leaf out of a predecessor, Lalu Prasad’s book, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge sought to get a feel of a Vote-on-Account speech particularly to know the extent to which he could take liberties in announcing new schemes ahead of the general election to please his coalition, party, State and constituency.
Mr. Prasad, whose Rashtriya Janata Dal leader is a powerful constituent of UPA- I, in his Vote-on-Account address in 2009, ignored the tradition of sticking to the basic task of seeking Parliament’s nod for meeting expenses for the first four months of the next fiscal, announced 43 new trains, extended 14 others and increased the frequency of as many trains, besides ordering 25 surveys for 14 new lines and three gauge conversion and eight doubling projects, a chunk of them for his State Bihar.
But Mr. Kharge is no match for Mr. Prasad in pulling strings; he could not even get his nominee appointed as Chairman of the Railway Board just a few months ago.
This will be his maiden and UPA-II’s last rail budget, to be presented on February 12.
The Congress may, however, allow Mr. Kharge to have things his way and take a few liberties keeping in view the bitter battle with the BJP in the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka.
At the macro level, Mr. Prasad continued with his populist policy of reducing ordinary train fares by Re. 1.
