The resignation of Pawan Kumar Bansal, who is perceived to be close to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (both come from Punjab), may have brought out in the open the friction between the Congress and the government. But that was not the only thing that the railway minister's resignation managed to divide. The deep divide in the Railways Employees Union was also in evidence. According to a senior official, while the Left-leaning AIl India Railwaymen's Federation refused to sign a letter in support of Bansal, saying it could not support such a corrupt minister, the Congress-supported Indian National Trade Union Congress and its affiliate workers' union were very much in favour of Bansal continuing in office. The matter was settled in favour of the former, when Bansal finally resigned on Friday.
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