With new political equations emerging at the national level, non-Congress, non-BJP-ruled states could expect a bonanza from the Railway Budget to be presented by the Trinamul Congress’ railway minister, Mr Dinesh Trivedi.
As Trinamul chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee tries to forge a platform on the lines of a third front of regional parties, states such as Orissa, Bihar and Tamil Nadu could come in for special attention in Mr Trivedi’s scheme of things.
Orissa is ruled by chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s BJD, Bihar by chief minister Nitish Kumar of the JD(U), and Tamil Nadu by J. Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK party. Some of these states are likely to get a substantial amount of goodies in terms of more trains and new lines.
Ms Banerjee has joined hands with them on many occasions in the recent past to oppose increase in prices of fuels and allowing FDI of up to 51 per cent in multi-brand retail. At the same time, even after taking care of these states’ demands, Mr Trivedi can be expected to present a Bengal-centric Budget.
Mr Trivedi, as even his detractors in the party and outside would concede, has the unenviable task of having to draft a please-all Budget in spite of being caught between a party chief who is averse to raising passenger fares and a Central government that is unwilling to bail out a cash-starved Railways. However, Mr Trivedi’s debut Budget speech is shrouded in uncertainty because of speculation in political circles that a realignment of political forces is likely after the UP polls.
But he is unfazed. “I am focused on the [Rail] Budget. That is all I will say,” he told this newspaper. The Trinamul has threatened to revisit its support to the UPA if the Congress decides to bring the SP into the UPA fold in order to offset any threat of a pullout and to eliminate her “veto” on government policies such as FDI.