Feel disturbed by violence in West Bengal: Dinesh Trivedi

NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi continues to keep speculation alive about whether or not he would be joining the BJP, after he heaped fulsome praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Trivedi, a former railway minister in the last UPA government says that he and the prime minister have been “old friends” since 1990, and that “in public life, one must appreciate things beyond party lines.”

He told ET, that he and the prime minister became friends during the BJP’s support to the V P Singh government (1989-91). “I was quite close to V P Singh, and the government was supported by both the BJP and the Left parties. I was, of course, anti-Left and consequently had more friends in the BJP,” he said. “The Prime Minister has always been a man with a mission even in his early career,” he said.

He added that his praise for the prime minister was due to his conduct in public life so far. “At the moment India is the flavour of the world. We would be naïve not to recognise that. Everyone has to put an aahuti in that havan kund,” he said. “India as a country has a window of opportunity and the success of Swacch Bharat and Make in India is a must,” he said.

Trivedi had fallen out briefly with TMC chief Mamata Banerjee when as railway minister he had, despite her instructions to the contrary, recommended a fare hike. “The TMC and the chief minister of Bengal are to be commended for ending communist rule in the state, that is incontrovertible. I do however feel disturbed by reports of stocking of weapons in temples of learning, and bombs going off in offices of political parties,” he added, a reference to the troubles in Jadavpur University, and the Burdwan blasts When asked whether he was joining the BJP like some of his colleagues were being rumoured to, Trivedi said that he looked at the situation in two ways. “One is being an opportunist, which is not a good thing, the other is to have an opportunity, to recognise it,” he said, refusing to clarify further.