If the exit polls are to be believed, the Trinamool Congress is set to sweep the West Bengal elections and, in all probability, its firebrand leader Mamata Banerjee will get elected as chief minister. In such a scenario, Banerjee, who is currently Railway Minister, will have to vacate that position besides her Lok Sabha membership.
Which brings one to the question: who will step in to her shoes (or rather, to the trademark hawai chappal she wears)? There is no doubt that the volatile leader will want to keep the Railway ministry with her party since her bargaining power will have considerably increased.
According to the Trinamool Congress sources, her Man Friday, Mukul Roy, at present Minister of State for Shipping, will take over the reigns of Rail Bhavan, headquarters of the Railway ministry in New Delhi.
However, the question is will Roy be made cabinet minister, like Banerjee, or a minister of state with independent charge? It is again her call. The Bengal leader shrewdly avoided making anyone cabinet minister—except her—in the present Union government so that no one would stand equal to her.
Thus the question now is, will she allow anyone to become cabinet minister. (There is no need for any ministry to be headed only by a cabinet minister while having MoS is a must).
Trinamool MP and Union Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi was an aspirant for Railway ministry post, but he has fallen out with Mamata recently.
He even proposed to opt out of the government during the agitation over the Lokpal Bill after he sent a letter to Anna Hazare saying he was willing to resign if that would help his cause.
