Date:02/07/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/07/02/stories/2002070204550100.htm

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Mamata stays away

By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi July 1. Mamata Banerjee, the rebel without a pause, today played true to form by staying away from this evening's swearing-in ceremony. The reason — to protest against the Government's decision to bifurcate the Eastern Railway.

Senior NDA sources, however, tell another story. Ms. Banerjee had made no secret of her desire to get back into the Rail Bhavan, but failed to make the Prime Minister accede to her demand.

Frustrated in her attempts to have her way, she sought to give it an ideological touch indicating she had sacrificed the Cabinet berth for the people of West Bengal.

"We had requested the Prime Minister to review the decision to bifurcate the Eastern Railway but we did not receive any reply from him. Therefore we are unable to join the Government,'' the Trinamool Congress spokesman, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, said.

The fact remains that the issue of railway zone reorganisation has united the West Bengal polity with almost all political parties joining issue with the Railway Minister's decision to notify a new zone.