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Mamata keen to retain railways for Trinamool

Last Updated 18 May 2011, 16:47 IST

“Hopefully, the next railway minister will be someone amongst us (Trinamool),” she told a large gathering at Howrah station, her last public function as the railway minister, on Tuesday.

Going a step forward, she asserted: “All that the next rail minister is supposed to do is to supervise the work I’ve undertaken. You don’t have to worry (about the Bengal projects); I’ll handle the affairs of the state (as chief minister) as also the railways.”

In fact, after her talks with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday, Mamata  had made it clear that the railway ministry would be retained by the Trinamool. “There are so many rail projects going on in West Bengal. So we would like to keep the Ministry with us,” she had said in New Delhi after her meeting with the key UPA leaders.

Mamata, however, did not give any clear indication as to who would be chosen to head the Rail Bhavan. Several queries in this regard fell flat and even when she was about to leave for her place after meeting former LS Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Tuesday evening, the media literally egged on her for disclosing the person of her choice.“Please wait a couple of days and you’ll get to know everything,” was the one-liner that greeted the media.

However, the buzz in the Trinamool circles clearly indicates that Mukul Roy, Mamata confidante and Union minister of state for shipping, is tipped to take over the reins of the Railways from her. Incidentally, Roy had accompanied the Trinamool chief at her meetings with Gandhi and Singh.The name of Trivedi, minister of state for health and family welfare, is also doing the rounds.

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(Published 18 May 2011, 09:48 IST)

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