By IANS,
New Delhi : After ensuring replacement of Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi for hiking fares, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Monday said she wants to stay with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) but won’t tolerate humiliation.
“I’m committed to UPA-II because we contested elections together. I want to keep my manifesto promise. Unless until they throw us out we would continue with respect, whatever they may give to us. If there is humiliation, you have to take a decision. Until, unless there is humiliation we will abide by our commitment,” she told CNN-IBN news channel.
Explaining her removal of Trivedi for hiking fares without consulting her, Banerjee said she expected to be briefed by her ministers on policy issues.
“He (Trivedi) is my own minister, at least on policy decisions… I’m not asking the Budget proposal to be given to me… If somebody is deputed from the party they have to inform the party about the policy decision… At least you should inform about the price hike,” she said.
Stating she “digested” Trivedi’s move to hike freight rate by 20 percent before the rail budget, Banerjee said: “The poor people travel in sleeper class.”
“They (the ministers) should work for the poor people. It is the higher class who have advantage can travel. The poor people everyday travel by train, more than sixty percent of them are daily passengers. Two paise or five paise increase amounts to around Rs.200 in a month,” she said adding the parliament would decide on any roll back.
She said the party would decide on Trivedi.
“He is in our party. I’m not saying anything on it… it is our own party matter. I can’t disclose outside.”
Banerjee had earlier told reporters that the rollback in passenger tariff, proposed in the 2012-13 rail budget, was a prerogative of the prime minister.
“It was a good meeting… the issue of rollback of passenger fare hike and making party leader Mukul Roy as the new railway minister are the prerogatives of the prime minister,” Banerjee told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Explaining her earlier opposition to foreign equity in multi brand retail, Banerjee told CNN-IBN: “The government can’t provide employment to everyone.
“Around 5-10 crore people are involved in the retail market. This is self sufficient business. We don’t want that the retail market business should be curtailed.”
Terming the proposed NCTC, which she opposed, as “a federal issue and an interference with the state government”, she said both state and central governments should combat terrorism together.