By IANS
New Delhi : A delegation of MPs from Kerala Wednesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi to seek her intervention against the railway ministry's decision to form a new railway zone by bifurcating the Palakkad division in the state.
Gandhi told the delegation, comprising parliamentarians from the state's ruling Left and the opposition Congress, that she would take up the matter with Railway Minister Lalu Prasad.
The delegation asked Gandhi to request the central government to stop the work for a new railway zone at Salem – in neighbouring Tamil Nadu – till the issue was discussed between the chief ministers of the two states.
Kerala has alleged that Minister of State for Railways R. Velu, who hails from Tamil Nadu, had taken a partisan stand neglecting the interests of Kerala.
The MPs told Gandhi that they had been promised in parliament that the new division would be formed only after discussing the matter with the two chief ministers.
Kerala argues that the creation of the Salem division would weaken the existing Palakkad division based in Kerala.