New Delhi: Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi who came in for sharp criticism from his party the Trinamool Congress with a state minister dubbing him a 'traitor', is likely to stay while the Budget session is on as the UPA government continues to back him.
Trivedi has said on Thursday, "I will resign if my party wants me to. But I haven't resigned as yet."
Sources said that the government is likely to agree to a partial rollback to placate Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.
But an unbending Mamata has made it clear that there will be no rethink on her part on her demand that Trivedi be removed for raising passenger fares in the Railway Budget.
The Congress did not want to face the embarrassment of seeing a Railway Minister being booted out the day he had presented the Budget.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke to Mamata twice since Wednesday night, asking her to hold fire for sometime. The attempts worked but only just. The Trinamool Congress was forced to speak in two voices about their own minister.
For the Opposition, the latest UPA II crisis has only given them added ammunition.
Inside Parliament, the Left and the Right gave the government a torrid time. Lead of Opposition Arun Jaitley said, "This is a theatre of the absurd that's going on here."
CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said, "We demand a statement from the Prime Minister."
Under relentless attack, it was once again left to Pranab to do firefighting. "The letter has been received from Mamata. It's under consideration. But the Opposition shouldn't behave like petulant children."
So what is the UPA's road ahead in dealing with the Trivedi tangle. The Congress will agree for a partial rollback in passenger fares to appease Mamata as well as potential allies like Samajwadi Party.
The Congress has agreed on TMC leader Mukul Roy replacing Trivedi, despite some concerns already expressed by the Prime Minister.
For a minister who emphasises on reading the body language, Trivedi looked visibly confident on Thursday, unlike Wednesday evening. Clearly implying that he continues to enjoy the backing of the UPA government's top leadership.
And by presenting a reformist Budget Trivedi has also ensured that even if he is has to leave the post he would be continued to be seen as the one who had the treatment for railway's financial ailment.
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