Sidharth Nath Singh slams Jairam Ramesh for questioning Centre's handing of Odisha tragedy

Singh said that Ramesh should first answer why had the CBI probed into the Gyaneshwari (Jnaneswari) Express accident, which had occurred during UPA rule

BJP leader Sidharth Nath Singh, on Tuesday – reacting strongly to Congress MP Jairam Ramesh’s tweet concerning inquiry of Balasore train accident by the CBI – said that the Congress leader “needs to educate himself” before he tweets or speaks otherwise.

“Even before the Commissioner of Railway Safety has submitted his report on Balasore train disaster, a CBI inquiry is announced. This is nothing but headlines management having failed to meet deadlines,” Ramesh tweeted. To add further emphasis to his claim, Ramesh provided a “chronology” of the Indore-Patna Express derailment near Kanpur, in 2016 (November 20), in which over 150 people had lost their lives.

He added that after the accident, the-then railways minister Suresh Prabhu had written to the Union Home Minister (on Jan 23, 2017) and asked for an NIA probe, following which the PM stated (on Feb 24, 2017) that the Kanpur train accident was a conspiracy. On October 21, 2018, Ramesh mentioned, “Newspapers report NIA will NOT file any chargesheet in the derailment.”

He added, “June 6, 2023: Still no OFFICIAL news on NIA final report on Kanpur derailment. Zero accountability!”

Read | Coromandel Express passes through accident site at Odisha's Bahanaga

“There are two different things. I think Jairam Ramesh needs to educate himself, before he shoots out on Twitter or otherwise. Commissioner (of) Railway Safety is a different thing, and when you look at… if there is a possibility of sabotage, or anything preliminary that is a different thing, that’s not done by CRS. So, CBI is natural,” Singh said.

Singh said that Ramesh should first answer that during the UPA government in 2010, when the Gyaneshwari (Jnaneswari) Express accident had occurred, then why had the CBI inquiry been initiated.

“What made you do that? Tell the reason, what report of the CRS had come, against which they did it, they must answer. So before he shoots out, let him educate himself,” Singh stated.