New rail minister to be appointed soon: PM
19 Mar 2012
Announcing the resignation of railway minister Dinesh Trivedi, prime minister Manmohan Singh today said he regretted his departure as he had presented a budget, which promised to carry out the ''vision'' outlined by his predecessor Mamata Banerjee.
Singh, whose hand was forced by the Trinamool Congress chief on the issue following Trivedi hiking rail fare in the budget, said a new railway minister would soon be sworn in.
''I received late last night an email message followed by a formal letter from Dinesh Trivedi tendering his resignation as Railway Minister,'' the prime minister told the Lok Sabha while replying to the debate on Motion of Thanks to the president's address.
He added he would forward the letter to the president with the recommendation to accept the resignation.
''I regret the departure of Shri Trivedi,'' he observed.
According to Singh, Trivedi had ''presented a Railway Budget that had promised to carry out the Vision 2020 outlined by his predecessor,'' a reference to Banerjee.
