JD-U Demands Sacking of Lalu from Railway Ministry
Patna: Dec. 15, 2007
Janata Dal (U) national spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari, during a press conference in Patna on Saturday, asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sack Lalu Prasad Yadav for failing to provide security to train passengers as cases of explosion in trains had reached a record high under Yadav's tenure as the Railway Minister.
"Since his becoming of the Railway Minister, there had been seven explosions in trains nationwide taking a toll of 326 lives that is a record in itself," Tiwari said at the press conference.
Recounting the cases of explosions, the JD-U leader said the latest explosion came in the Rajdhani Express near Guwahati.
"Before this, 15 people perished in an explosion on Dimapur station on October 2, 2004. On February 18, 2007, 67 people were killed when an explosion ripped apart the Samjhauta Express. The list is long and despite all talks of security on trains and railway stations, Yadav had failed to provide security to the common passengers while he himself continues to travel in special trains guarded by the elite security force," Tiwari said.
The JD-U leader also blamed the Railway Minister for long, inordinate delays in the movement of all passenger trains.
"Trains are reaching their destinations 12 or more hours late while the Railway Minister continues to feign ignorance of the passengers' plight," he said adding the way Yadav destroyed Bihar during his 15 years of rule in the state, he was determined to raze the Indian Railways for his own political gains," Tiwari said.
Reacting to Tiwari's allegations, the RJD spokesperson Shyam Rajak and party general secretary Nihora Prasad Yadav said the JD-U was jealous of the achievements of the Railway Minister who is known worldwide, among other things, for turning the Indian Railways from a failed enterprise to a money-making machine.
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