Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav waves as he addresses a press conference at Rail Bhavan.

The Rashtriya Janata Party leader from Bihar had to settle for railways after the Congress reportedly turned down his demand for the home ministry.

He balked and flew off to Patna on May 20, only to return the next morning to New Delhi and team up with Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar. The two leaders kept everyone on tenterhooks by saying that they may not join the government.

But after last-minute negotiations they came around, and Yadav was made the railway minister; Pawar got agriculture, food & civil supplies, consumer affairs and public distribution.

On Monday Yadav said his priority would be to regenerate people's confidence in the railways.

He further stated that the most important thing was safety, "as in the past we have seen frequent rail accidents due to which people are scared".