Day after Cabinet row,Mamata meets Pranab for funding

Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee paid a surprise visit to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjees residence late on Friday night....

Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee paid a surprise visit to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjees residence late on Friday night,a day after she broke into tears at a Cabinet meeting when she was snubbed by Pranab for her style of functioning. Mamatas unscheduled visit was aimed at reaching peace with Pranab,said sources.

During the 30-minute meeting,Mamata was learnt to have clarified that her compulsion to deliver railway projects for West Bengal before the Assembly elections next year had led her to seek the Cabinets approval for a host of projects. While reminding Pranab that he had a key role to play in ushering in change in Bengal,Mamata was said to have urged the leader to give money for some of her important projects. The Finance Minister,however,stuck to the stand he had taken during the Cabinet meeting,sources said. Out of Mamatas 24 projects,some 10 are said to be in West Bengal this includes the expansion of the Kolkata Metro and coach factories at Kachrapara and Singur.

The meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure last Thursday had witnessed a face-off between Pranab and Mamata when the latter sought approval for some 24 railway projects worth over Rs 15,000 crore without any concrete plan to fund them. After Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reportedly expressed dismay over the proposals coming at the last minute,Pranab literally snubbed Mamata for trying to play to the gallery. Though he granted approval for the projects,Pranab made it clear that he cannot commit finances for them and that the Railways would have to find its own sources. This remark saw Mamata break into tears.

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The Prime Minister is also learnt to be unhappy with the way Mamata neglects her official duties and remains engrossed with politics in West Bengal. With less than a week left for presenting the Railway Budget,the minister has been working overtime since last Monday.

Officials in the Rail Bhawan said the 24 projects were hurriedly prepared on Tuesday and sent just a day ahead of the Cabinet meet to be included in the agenda. On Tuesday,Mamata was closeted with the officers well past midnight to prepare the projects. She left office at around 3:30 am, said an official.

Mamata,whose attendance in Cabinet meetings is abysmal,reached here last Sunday and got busy with the Budget giving a tough time to her officers. She comes to office late in the afternoon and then sits well past midnight. It is disgusting. She is like a student who does not study through the year and tries to make up just before the exams, remarked an officer associated with preparing the Railway Budget.

Now,with the Cabinet not keen on funding her populist projects,Mamata is looking towards Public Private Partnership (PPP). However,with most of her pet projects being economically unviable it would be difficult for her to find private support. Her predecessor RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav faced the same problem with his proposed diesel locomotive plant at Marhoura and electric locomotive plant at Madhepura. Initially,the Cabinet approved PPP mode for the two,but later they found no takers.