Railway Budget a Big Smokescreen: Chief Minister
Patna: February 26, 2008
 Bihar Chief Minister and former Railway Minister Nitish Kumar, reacting on the 2008-09 Railway Budget presented by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday, said the whole budget was without any direction and left much to be desired.
"The Railway Minister talks about a number of future plans for the railways but fails to explain how he intends to achieve those dreams," Kumar said while talking to media reporters outside Bihar Assembly on Tuesday.
Pooh-poohing the Railway Minister's claim of a profit of Rs. 25,000 crore for the Indian Railways, the Chief Minister said the numbers were manipulated and twisted in a way to paint a false 'feel-good' picture of the Ministry while hijacking the event to self-congratulate himself.
"Yadav also conveniently failed to mention who started the Rs. 17,000 crore Railway Safety Fund that now he is reaping fruit from," Kumar said.
Downplaying the claim of Rs. 25,000 profit for the Railways in the last fiscal year, the Chief Minister said the Railways was extracting money from the passengers by ending the 'tatkal' facility and slashing facilities in the trains to inflate the numbers.
Kumar also ridiculed Rabri Devi's statement that the privatization in railways began during his tenure as the Railway Minister in the NDA government.
"What would she know, whatever they ask her to say, she regurgitates it," the Chief Minister said.
Other NDA leaders also echoed Kumar's sentiments.
"The whole thing is a massive smokescreen. The Railway Minister is very cleverly picking the pockets of the passengers while showing Rs. 25,000 crore profit for his ministry," said Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and state president Radha Mohan Singh.
Janata Dal (U) state spokesperson Anil Pathak said that the budget failed to mention the schemes initiated by Nitish Kumar in Yadav's blatant attempt to steal the glories of his predecessor.
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