'Railway minister is not party's property'

KOLKATA: Rebel Trinamool Congress MP Kabir Suman on Thursday openly supported Dinesh Trivedi, his fellow MP who drew flak from Trinamool Congress after placing the railway budget. Suman supported the fare hikes and asserted that the railway minister was not the party's property.
"The fare hike was inevitable. The railway minister has not raised the fare to fill up his own pocket.Some crucial issues like railway safety and passengers' amenities are directly correlated with this fare hike. As a fellow parliamentarian of Dineshda, I am shocked to see the harassment he is undergoing," said the singer MP.
"The railway ministry is a very important ministry. A railway minister has to run it properly. The budget is so vast that it can easily surpass the general budget of some nations. The railway ministry is not a place of personal catfights," said Suman, who is known for his frequent off-the-cuff remarks.
"We have to keep faith in Dinesh Trivedi and other ministers. Now, if the party starts fighting with Trivedi regarding any issue then it will do no good to democracy. We all know that (Trinamool president and West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee wants to keep her pro-people image intact. There is nothing wrong in it," said Suman.
"He is definitely hurt by whatever is happening. He is such a gentleman. I have spoken to him and requested him not to change his stand and the decision he has taken as a railway minister.
"To remove someone if he is not following the party line and replace him with somebody else is not good for democracy. It doesn't look decent when the budget session is going on. Nobody should consider a railway minister the property of a party," Suman added.
Reacting to the comment of state urban development and municipal affairs minister Firhad Hakim that the railway minister is a Mir Jafar (traitor), Suman said, "I am proud to have a traitor like Dineshda around."
Soon after Trivedi finished presenting the railway budget on Wednesday, Trinamool Parliamentary Party leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay lashed out against it and demanded a rollback of the fare hikes, failing which the party would protest inside and outside parliament, he said. "The parliamentary committee of the Trinamool Congress has sought the removal of Dinesh Trivedi. I am also an MP, a member of Trinamool's parliamentary committee. I have never been consulted," he said.
Mamata told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday night to make her party colleague Mukul Roy the railway minister after Trivedi refused to back off despite her strident criticism.
Suman's relationship with the Trinamool leadership has been strained since he spoke out against alleged corruption among a section of party leaders and openly condemned the joint forces operation in the Maoist-affected districts of the state. "In Trinamool Congress, everyone works under tremendous fear. No one can work honestly and sincerely under constant fear," the rebel MP added.
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