BJP punches holes in Lalu budget

A lot of heat was generated in both Parliament on the Railway Budget with Lalu Prasad being the butt of criticism and ridicule.

While in the Lok Sabha, led by Sushil Modi (BJP) members from Bihar hit back at Prasad, a suggestion was made in the Rajya Sabha that Prasad be redesignated minister for entertainment, as his speech was full of nautanki.

The Upper House was stalled for over 20 minutes over remarks by BJP members on the railway minister's antecedents and Prasad's reference to Sonia Gandhi in the budget speech. Balbir Punj (BJP), initiating the debate on the budget, recalled how Prasad had to resign as Bihar chief minister on charges of corruption.

He raised the issue of Prasad mentioning that the budget had Gandhi's blessings and wanted to know if the Congress chief was privy to the budget before its presentation, a remark which provoked the RJD and the Congress MPs to spring to their feet.

They shouted that parliamentary traditions did not allow mention of members belonging to the other House. Amid the din, Punj said the House would like to know if Prasad had discussed the budget proposals with Gandhi.

This evoked an even sharper reaction from the Congress with Suresh Pachauri raising a point of order. Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat read out a ruling that said incidents in the Lok Sabha could not be mentioned in the Rajya Sabha and asked Punj to restrict himself to speaking on the budget.

In his defence Punj, supported by SS Ahluwalia (BJP), once again spoke of Prasad mentioning Gandhi's name in the speech. Shekhawat said mere mention of the budget having the blessing of Gandhi did not mean that budget proposals were shown to her.

Terming the railway minister's nearly two-hour budget speech as "nautanki", Punj suggested that Prasad should be redesignated minister for entertainment.

When schemes worth Rs 40,000 crore remained stalled for want of funds, Prasad had announced a Rs 1,000 crore wheel and axle plant in his constituency Chhapra, the member said.

In the Lok Sabha, despite the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) resolve that they would be boycotting "tainted" ministers, the Sushil Kumar Modi (BJP) made his maiden speech launching a scathing attack on Prasad's budget.

"The budget is devoid of vision, and by giving some sops, Prasad hopes to cash in on the good work done by former Railway Minister Nitish Kumar," he said.

"I hope Prasad does not turn railways into a Bihar, which ranks the worst in terms of all development indicators," he said. This prompted Raghunath Jha and Jayprakash Narayan (both RJD) to protest against the "denigration of Bihar".

Modi protested against the proposal that recruitment to the Railway Protection Force (RPF) be done through the department and not through the railway recruitment board.

"Nearly 24 rail dacoities have taken place in Bihar after Prasad has taken over as the railway minister," he said. "The recruitment through the RPF will make it an interdepartmental matter, and thus subject to political interference," he said.

"Prasad has reduced the budget to kulhar, khadi, sattu and pattal instead of talking about improving the railways," he said.

The real pyrotechnics are, however, supposed to start tomorrow with the long awaited budget to be presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram.