West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee declared today that she will not not allow any hike in railway fares proposed in the Railway Budget by her own nominee Dinesh Trivedi, the Railway Minister.
"We will not not allow rail fares to be hiked," she told a public meeting here, hours after Trivedi had proposed an across-the-board hike in passenger fares to raise Rs 4,000 crore extra this year.
Stating that she was not not aware of the move to raise the fares, Banerjee asserted, "I assure you we will not not accept this fare hike."
When asked about Banerjee's statement, Trivedi said, "I will try to convince her."
A team of Trinamool Congress MPs met Railway Minister and party colleague Dinesh Trivedi soon after he presented the Railway Budget in which he proposed to hike fares across all classes.
Minister of State for Health Sudip Bandopadhyay said that the TMC MPs asked the Railway Minister to roll-back the fare hike.
When pointed out that Trivedi was a member of the Trinamool Congress, he said the Railway Minister has performed his "constitutional duty" by presenting the Budget.
"The Trinamool Congress never rolls back its demand," Bandopadhyay said.
"Railway Budget...What was all that about increasing fares across the board? Upper class...Maybe ok...But all? Sorry, cannot agree," Trinamool MP Derek O'brien tweeted.
Bandopadhyay said the Trinamool Congress would never support any fare hike.