The Union railway minister Dinesh Trivedi has rejected a request made by the Lok Sabha chief whip of his party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), asking him to resign from both the railway ministership and the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat.
He told the party chief whip Kalyan Banerjee over the telephone this morning that he would take orders only from the party chief Mamata Banerjee, demanding that she put her request in writing.
Trivedi’s logic is that two days back, party leader Sudip Bandopadhyay had said on the floor of the Lok Sabha that the Trinamool Congress ‘had not asked Trivedi to resign’.
Trivedi told Kalyan Banerjee that if that situation had changed, he needed to have it in writing. He would not accept a verbal order, that too from a mere chief whip who may, for all he knew, be playing a prank on him.
The Lok Sabha Trinamool chief whip told him that it was not fair on his part to insist on party directive in writing, pointing out that when he became a minister, he had not insisted in getting it in writing from the party leader.
“As a party man, you should understand the situation and make the exit graciously when the party does not want you to remain as a minister. You took oath as minister because the party wanted you to do so. The party on Saturday does not want you to take oath, so you should resign," he said.
But Trivedi insisted he would do nothing unless he had heard from his leader Mamata Banerjee. The West Bengal chief minister and TMC chief is holding back because one request she had despatched to the Prime Minister was still pending.
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Congress sources had got in touch with Banerjee, asking (and informing) her that Trivedi should be allowed to continue as railway minister till March 30, when the session ends, so that he can be deployed to defend the passage of the railway budget in the Lok Sabha. They had also indicated that to enable TMC to keep face, a partial rollback of the fare hike might be possible.
Banerjee had sought a replacement of the minister because she knew that Trivedi would not rollback the hike but his replacement was more likely to. Congress sources said they were aware she had to fight her own political battles in Bengal. So, they said, Trivedi would probably go, but possibly not as soon as the Bengal CM wanted.
The Prime Minister is also clear that he would not like the railway ministry to be headed by Mukul Roy, the man Mamata Banerjee has indicated should succeed Trivedi. So, the Congress too is stalling for time.
The ball is currently in the court of Mamata Banerjee. So is the political future of Dinesh Trivedi.