BJP slams PM Manmohan Singh for Kalka rail derailment

NEW DELHI: A day after the Kalka mail derailment, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in the BJP's line of fire over the "state of affairs" in the Railway Ministry.

It said the ministry has become a victim of coalition politics in UPA I and II regimes. "The ministry has been orphaned and has not paid any attention..... It is primarily because of the Prime Minister's approach. He is squarely responsible for it," party spokesperson Jai Prakash Nadda told reporters here on Monday.

The railways portfolio has been with the Prime Minister since May after Mamata Banerjee resigned as Union minister to take over as chief minister of West Bengal. Nadda castigated former railway ministers Lalu Prasad Yadav and Banerjee.

Nadda said Yadav made "tall claims and gave inflated figures" while the Trinamool Congress leader always had her eyes set on the chief minister's post. Alleging that the Prime Minister had refrained from intervening, he said Banerjee even shifted the office of the Railway Board to Kolkata.

"The joke being played with the ministry is unacceptable," he said. Nadda said one lakh posts, including those related to security and traffic, in the ministry are lying vacant. The projects to rebuild tracks and bridges, for which funds were approved by the NDA government when Nitish Kumar held the railways portfolio, have been abandoned.

"You need a political will to do it," he said. Minister of State for Railways Mukul Roy, also a member of the Trinamool Congress, was under Opposition attack for not rushing to the accident spot and saying that he would await the Prime Minister's order.

Another rail tragedy occurred on Sunday night when an explosion on the track derailed the Guwahati-Puri Express injuring several people. The Railways Ministry is expected to be retained by the Trinamool Congress in the Cabinet reshuffle, which is to take place on Tuesday.