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Shahid K Abbas in New Delhi
The spat between Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee and Union Railways Minister Nitish Kumar on the issue of bifurcation of the Eastern Railways into two zones is turning into a confrontation between West Bengal and Bihar.
Leaders of all hues in West Bengal are showing a rare unity in opposing the bifurcation, while the Bihar leaders are leaving no stone unturned in their bid to support Nitish Kumar.
Notwithstanding Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani's intervention to resolve the dispute, Kumar has refused to buckle under pressure saying the decision would not be reviewed.
Kumar, who is a Samata Party Member of Parliament from Barh in Bihar, argued that the bifurcation has 'become imperative' for the all-round development of the Indian Railways, not of Bihar alone as alleged by the West Bengal leaders.
In response the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress have worked out a temporary truce, deciding to jointly raise the issue in the monsoon session of Parliament beginning July 15.
They have also announced their plan to stall the business of the House unless the government withdraws the bifurcation proposal.
"We are going to block the proceedings of both Houses in the ensuing monsoon session unless the government restores the old status of Eastern Railways," a Trinamool Congress MP close to Mamata Banerjee told rediff.com.
The Left parties argue that no new zones have been created since 1965, as many studies felt that new zones would not generate revenues commensurate with investment.
Communist Party of India - Marxist MP Nilutpal Basu told rediff.com: "An expert committee was formed in 1983 which recommended that at the most two new zones can be created and even in that there was no proposal for bifurcation of Eastern Railways."
He said that even in 1996 when the then Railways Minister Ram Vilas Paswan in the United Front government under Deve Gowda, took the decision to bifurcate Eastern Railways, the Left parties strongly opposed the decision 'both inside and outside the Parliament'.
He added that CPI-M had opposed the decision even though Paswan at that time had not specified the divisions that would constitute the East Central Railways.
Basu, however, wondered as to why Banerjee, who succeeded Paswan, did not scrap the decision.
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