Indicating that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Bannerjee knew about the proposals in the Railway budget presented by him, the former Railway Minister, Dinesh Trivedi, on Tuesday said his sacking was a “foregone conclusion” and the fare hike was not the reason behind it.
Without taking any name, he said a bureaucrat close to Ms. Bannerjee was in the know of things and he had “every reason to believe that my leader [Mamata Bannerjee] knew” and said a senior journalist had commented on March 8 itself that Mr. Trivedi would be removed from office after the Railway budget.
“Without naming anybody, a bureaucrat close to my leader was absolutely in the know of things and he told me that if I don't do this [fare hike], the Railways will collapse... the reason for which I talked to him was to inform the leader,” Mr. Trivedi told Times Now.
He said he had “no reason to believe that the bureaucrat would not communicate [to Ms. Bannerjee].”
“Very strangely” a senior journalist on the day of Holi on March 8 said Mr. Trivedi would not be the Railway Minister after the Railway budget.
Meanwhile, the Congress ducked questions on the alleged business interests of Mukul Roy, who was inducted as Railway Minister on Tuesday and virtually put the onus for it on the Trinamool.
“It has been our policy not to react on speculation... I do not think it would be appropriate to react to that,” party spokesperson Manish Tewari said when asked how could Mr. Roy be given Railway Ministry when he had direct or indirect interest in Railway business.
