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Congress senses first blood, steps up attack on Prabhu

Last Updated 23 August 2017, 14:10 IST
Sensing the first resignation in the Modi government over non-performance, Congress on Wednesday stepped up attack on Suresh Prabhu demanding his removal as Railway Minister.
 
The fresh attack came hours after Prabhu met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and dropped ample hints that he had offered to step down as minister accepting responsibility for the railway accident in Uttar Pradesh that killed 23 persons.
 
“This responsibility business will not do. Either Prime Minister should sack the railway minister or accept his resignation,” Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters here.
 
He said Prabhu had “utterly failed” as a minister and asked dared him to face the media instead of making comments on Twitter about his meetings with the prime minister.
 
If the prime minister accepts Prabhu's resignation, it would be the first casualty from the Modi government on account of non-performance. Modi has strongly defended Union Ministers including Sushma Swaraj, who was in the eye of the storm for allegedly helping former IPL boss Lalit Modi get travel papers from the British government.
 
Referring to several accidents in the past three years, the Congress asked Modi to appoint a responsible person as railway minister who could lay down a safety map and implement the prime minister's vision for the sector.
 
Surjewala said 28 major train accidents had taken place since the Modi government took office leading to the death of 259 people and injuring 973. The death toll from derailments in 2016-17 was the highest in a decade, he said.
 
The Congress also highlighted the large-scale vacancies in railways, particularly the safety section. “The total number of vacancies in the safety categories including Group C & Group D (Front Line Categories) is 1,25,754. What has the Budget announced to fill in these mounting vacancies,” Surjewala asked.

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(Published 23 August 2017, 13:26 IST)

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