By IANS,
Chandigarh: Announcements for Punjab announced in the rail budget by railway minister Mamata Banerjee Friday have led to a political war of words in the state.
While Manish Tewari, Congress spokesperson and member of parliament from Ludhiana, welcomed the Ludhiana-New Delhi Shatabdi train, the Punjab government flayed the budget
“We express gratitude for starting the Ludhiana-New Delhi Shatabdi train, which was a long pending demand of the people of the region,” said Tewari.
Tewari also took a dig at the Punjab government’s “ignorance” by targeting the statement of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. He ridiculed Badal’s reaction to the railway budget when he said that Punjab was not given anything.
“From your statement I can make out that you do not consider Ludhiana as part of Punjab. Badal should come out of the negative mindset and start looking at the positive side of things as well,” said Tewari.
Ludhiana is the industrial hub of Punjab and a lot of people travel everyday to Delhi from this city.
Badal said, while reacting to the budget: “Mamata Banerjee should have known that she is representing the whole country and not only West Bengal or Rae Bareli. If we go by the proposals of the railway budget, it seems that Punjab does not exist on the map of India, as she has not allocated a single penny, single train, a single kilometre of railway track.”
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal also assailed the budget.
He described it as totally lopsided and unrealistic since West Bengal has been unduly favoured.
“Punjab did not find any mention about major railway projects and allotment of new railway lines. Our people felt cheated for this step motherly treatment and injustice meted out to Punjab,” he said.