Cong tries to embarrass Trinamool on RPF bill

The non-Congress chief ministers’ bid to close ranks against the Centre seemed to have foundered on the controversy over the proposed Railway Protection Force Amendment Bill.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha and her Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik alleged that the proposed RPF Amendment Bill too would infringe upon the powers of the state governments. They, however, did not get West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee echoing them as the latter’s party Trinamool Congress supported the proposed Bill.

The Congress sought to cash in on the opportunity to turn the table on its ally Trinamool Congress and advised chief ministers protesting against the Bill to take it up with Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi – the lone representative of Banerjee’s party in the Union Cabinet.

Even as the row over the RPF Amendment Bill threatened to fizzle out the non-Congress chief ministers’ tirade to stonewall the Congress-led UPA Government’s alleged moves undermining the federal structure of the country, Trivedi said that the Ministry of Railways would consult the state governments on the proposed legislature, but added that it would possibly be introduced in Parliament during the ensuing Budget Session itself.

“We have got to take all the states into account. We need to talk to them. I think that the Bill will come to Parliament and it will be debated in Parliament,” said Trivedi.