The Hindu : Cabinet may not oblige Mamata?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 26, 2002

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Cabinet may not oblige Mamata?

By Our New Delhi Bureau

NEW DELHI JULY 25. The Union Cabinet is expected to meet on Monday, July 29, when the vexed issue of bifurcation of railway zonal head offices is expected to be taken up. With the Railway Minister and Samata Party leader, Nitish Kumar, and the Trinamool Congress leader, Mamata Banerjee, having adopted rigid and opposing stands, some political fireworks can be expected irrespective of what the Cabinet decides.

Much as the Government may have wanted to postpone taking a difficult political decision on the bifurcation of railway zonal offices, a Cabinet meeting could not be postponed further — the Cabinet has not met since July 18 — because highly-placed Government sources indicated that the supplementary demands for grants for the Railways must be passed this session and the Cabinet had to meet to decide the bifurcation issue in order to allocate funds for setting up the new offices.

Sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party said the Government was unlikely to take an outright decision favouring Ms. Banerjee (who is opposed to the bifurcation) as the BJP's "political stakes'' are much higher in Bihar than in West Bengal. The party — and its Government — cannot afford to buy a bigger problem by appeasing Ms. Banerjee, party leaders added.

Ms. Banerjee, an ally of the NDA Government, has been waiting to be inducted into the Government.

She first indicated her preference for the Railway portfolio, and when the Prime Minister let it be known that he could not oblige her, she publicly demanded that the move to bifurcate the eastern railway zone be dropped.

The mood in the BJP is set against "appeasing'' Ms. Banerjee, and party MPs have said this openly at last week's parliamentary party meeting.

A few days ago, Ms. Banerjee had threatened to launch a vigorous agitation and had set a deadline for the Centre to review the bifurcation decision. On July 22, the Prime Minister issued a brief, matter-of-fact statement: "The Government's decision in respect of railway zones has evoked diverse reactions in the country and at the next meeting of the Cabinet, these reactions will be considered and an appropriate decision taken.''

Though the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, had held discussions with the NDA convenor and Defence Minister, George Fernandes, and Mr. Kumar on the prickly political issue, there were no indications of any acceptable formula being worked out.

The only feasible solution would be a climb down by the Trinamool leader, or the usual practice of shelving an inconvenient issue by setting up a committee to examine it.

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