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Patna, (Bihar Times): Former railway minister Lalu Prasad said he was not bothered by the Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s declaration of coming out with a white paper on the organisational, operational and financial situation and performance of Railways in the past five years.
White paper is not an embarrassment. Let her bring out white paper, he said adding that he was not bothered.
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Talking to newsmen after Banerjee presented the rail budget in Lok Sabha Lalu asked: “is this a budget? She has just read out what I had announced during my stint...She suffers from a complex.”
He also accused railway minister of totally ignoring Bihar and making no mention of Patna in the list of world class station.
During the budget speech too Lalu interrupted Mamata on a couple of occasions. Upon this Mamata said: “I respect you...You have done some things and I will do some things...I need support.”
While announcing a scheme providing employment to the tribals near Lalgarh, she addressed Lalu and said, “Let me do one or two (for Bengal). You did so much (for Bihar).”
comments...
Patna is missing from the list of 50 world-class-station projects in spite of being capital of a big state. It was also excluded from the list of non-stop trains. These two announcements were the most important and landmark features of the rail budget. Ignoring Patna shows her utter disrespect and i-don't-care attitude towards Bihar. It openly reflects Mamta Bannerjee's sick mindset towards such a vast state. If she had any grudge against the earlier rail ministers incidentally from Bihar, she should not settle it with the innocent people of the state. The revengeful act does not match with the stature of a central minister. Bihar is already far behind the national average at plenty of fronts. It is therefore incumbent on every ministry to consider this aspect while planning and allocating for development of the country as a whole. Although the budget is impressive in many ways, yet Mamta Bannerjee seemed to have failed so far as attention for Bihar is concerned. Biharese are badly hurt and are taking note of it, sure.
Prabhat K. Verma
Dubai (UAE)
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