Trinamool Congress
leader Mukul Roy was on Tuesday elevated and inducted into the Union
Cabinet as railway minister replacing Dinesh Trivedi, who was forced to
resign after Congress caved in to Mamata Banerjee's pressure.
Widely expected to roll back at least the lower class passenger fare hike proposed by Trivedi in the Railway Budget, Roy, 57, was sworn in as cabinet minister at a special but brief ceremony by President Pratibha Patil at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Shortly later, a communique from Rashtrapati Bhavan said Roy has been allocated the Railway Ministry on the recommendation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Before elevation, Roy
was serving as Union Minister of State for Shipping and had earlier
been Minister of State in the Railway ministry before Trivedi took over
last July.
The
ceremony was attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, the UPA chairperson and union ministers including those
from Trinamool Congress.
After the swearing-in, Roy parried questions on what he plans to do about the hike.
"Whatever I have to say I will say in Parliament as the Railway Budget is the property of Parliament," Roy said when asked if there will be any roll back in the hike in passenger fares.
Trivedi
was forced out by Trinamool Congress after he incurred the wrath of
party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who was
opposed to his proposal to increase fares in the railway budget last
Wednesday.
Trivedi resigned on Sunday.
The Congress leadership caved in to the Trinamool demand for replacing him with Roy.
On Monday, Mamata had indicated that the hike in the lower class fares proposed in the Railway budget may be rolled back.
Roy
was later introduced to Rajya Sabha by Prime Minister Singh, while in
the Lok Sabha Opposition BJP members objected to his absence when the
House took up discussion on the Railway Budget.
Roy told Speaker Meira Kumar that he had rushed to the House the moment his introduction in Rajya Sabha was over.
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