The Hindu Business Line : Mamata-Lalu battle livens up presentation

New Delhi, July 3 It was reality television at its best, reminiscent of the Saurav Ganguly-Greg Chappell spat. While the new Minister of Railways, Ms Mamata Banerjee, was presenting the budget, a game of one-upmanship was going on in the sidelines between her and her predecessor Mr Lalu Prasad.

Ms Banerjee was interrupted numerous times, not by the opposition, but by Mr Lalu Prasad, leader of the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), an ally of the Congress-led coalition.

Ms Banerjee promised to bring out a White Paper on the actual performance of the Indian Railways during the tenure of Mr Lalu Prasad.

Yet the former minister was unfazed, “She has a complex”, said Mr Lalu Prasad after the budget speech, and added that his turnaround of the Indian Railways had become a case-study at the Harvard Business School.

During her speech, Ms Banerjee dismissed the targets set in the interim budget by her predecessor as being ‘unrealistically high’. “I have now set more realistic targets for 2009-10 in the main budget based on the continuing trend of recession in the manufacturing sector and exports,” she said, adding that freight and commercialisation targets of Mr Lalu Prasad had fallen short of targets.

Mr Lalu Prasad

Not one to lie down quietly, Mr Lalu Prasad claimed that many of the proposals in this year’s Railway Budget were originally his and he had unveiled them earlier.

Afterwards speaking to newspersons he said, “Is this a budget? She has just read out what I had announced during my stint.”

Inside the Parliament, the battle reached fever pitch while Ms Banerjee was announcing a scheme for providing employment to tribals near Lalgarh. Addressing the RJD chief, the Railway Minister said, “Let me do one or two things for Bengal, you have done so much for Bihar.”

This prompted Mr Lalu Prasad to get up and reply, “I’m not interrupting you. Why are you after me?” Well, she’s after him because he was before her!

More Stories on : Railway Budget | Politics

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
‘Low’ may lack sting, but monsoon largely in tact

Salaried need tax breather

Budget guess swings between aam aadmi and growth

8 banks face NPAs of Rs 1,300 cr on PSU arm’s scrap woes

RNRL moves apex court to make Reliance execute order

Railways ropes in Pitroda to head cable network panel

Mamata-Lalu battle livens up presentation

Is Mamata plan more realistic than Lalu’s?

Mamata leaves passenger fares, freight rates untouched

NBFCs lower auto loan rates in race with public sector banks

Analysts see Friday’s populism on Monday too

Monsoon, rail budget give stocks a boost

SBI’s consolidation proposal hits union hurdle

IRFC allowed to float tax-free bonds for Rs 5,000 cr