The Hindu : Trinamool readying for another clash with Nitish

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002

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Trinamool readying for another clash with Nitish

By Malabika Bhattacharya

Kolkata June 17. The Trinamool Congress seems to be readying itself for a fresh round of confrontation with the Railway Minister, Nitish Kumar, for creating the east-central railway zone which would be headquartered at Hajipur, Bihar, Mr. Kumar's home State.

Predictably, the news has hugely upset the Trinamool leader, Mamata Banerjee, who is not exactly on good terms with Mr. Kumar. She would take up with the Prime Minister his move to include four divisions of the Eastern Railway, now headquartered in Kolkata, in the proposed east-central zone, to be located in Bihar. "I am deeply hurt at the news. I shall speak to the Prime Minister about it,'' she said before leaving for New Delhi this evening.

The last time she confronted Mr. Kumar was a month ago when the Railway Ministry was trying to evict illegal settlers on both sides of the railway tracks in south Kolkata, mainly to ensure safety. Ms. Banerjee rushed to the city from New Delhi just a day before the eviction and built up resistance with her supporters. Finally, the Railways gave up and the eviction was shelved for the time being.

Trinamool legislators today took up the issue of eastern railways in the Assembly suggesting that an all-party delegation to Delhi might force Mr. Kumar to change his mind.

The Trinamool chief whip, Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay, said the Railway Ministry's decision was a "grave blow'' to the Eastern Railway and the move to include Dhanbad, Danapur and Mughalsarai divisions of Eastern Railway in the east-central zone was expected to take away at least 70 per cent of jobs from the Eastern Railway.

The ruling Left Front MLAs told the Trinamool legislators that it was unfortunate that the Trinamool, despite being a partner of the ruling NDA at the Centre, was powerless to resist such a move by another partner, Mr. Kumar.

In a letter to the Railway Minister today, the Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, said the proposed railway zone would cripple the Eastern Railway and would entail largescale transfers of its employees to Hajipur, the headquarters of East Central Railway. He urged Mr. Kumar to maintain status quo.

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Trinamool readying for another clash with Nitish