After twin vows, MP's ticket to further woes

High-handedness

The Government Railway Police (GRP) have registered a case against the Lok Sabha member from Jhanjharpur in Bihar for holding up the Rajendra Nagar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express here.

Eyewitnesses said though the control room had given the green signal for the train to leave platform 4 at the scheduled departure time of 7:25 pm, the MP’s bodyguards forcibly stopped the train for 10 minutes as the MP was stuck in a traffic jam.

The MP denied the charge and said his bodyguards were with him in his car. “Moreover, I missed the train,” he said.

Mandal belongs to Nitish Kumar’s party but that did not stop the GRP from registering an FIR against his  bodyguards under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Railway Act. “The statements of the driver and guard of the Rajdhani Express will also be recorded,” said S P Choudhary, Railway SP.

A few years back when Lalu Prasad Yadav was Railway Minister, his brother-in-law Subhash Yadav insisted that he would board the Rajdhani Express only if it left Patna junction for Delhi from Platform No 1. The train was stationed at Platform No 4. When the railway officers ‘dared’ to express their inability to comply, orders came from ‘top’ to abide by Subhash’s wishes.

A similar demand was then made by another brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav who insisted that Sampoorna Kranti Express, slated to leave for Delhi from Platform No 4, should be brought to Platform No 1 as he was waiting for the train on that platform.

Four years down the line, little seems to have changed except the government.