Don't sell rail tracks next: Lalu Prasad slams PM Modi over rising number of train ac
Don't sell rail tracks next: Lalu Prasad slams PM Modi over rising number of train accidents
M.U.H
07/10/2024226
Lalu Prasad, a former railway minister, on Sunday accused the Narendra Modi government of destroying the railways and wondered whether it would sell the tracks next.
“Modi’s NDA increased rail fares and the prices of platform tickets, sold stations, reduced the number of general bogies, stopped the benefits given to the elderly…,” the Rashtriya Janata Dal patriarch and former Bihar chief minister said in a post on X.
“It has curtailed (railway) safety because of which accidents are happening daily. And it still asserts that the railways are suffering losses. Now they should not sell the railway tracks.”
Lalu had earlier too expressed worry at the rising number of railway accidents and flagged the alleged violation of safety standards.
The RJD chief was railway minister in the UPA government between 2004 and 2009 and was credited with reviving the railways at a time the public-sector behemoth was headed towards bankruptcy. Its turnaround under him became a subject of study at several universities around the globe.
The railways’ surplus was just ₹880 crore when Lalu took charge in 2004 but shot up to ₹11,500 crore by 2007 amid improved efficiency and enhanced freight and passenger traffic. The net revenue rose from ₹4,000 crore to ₹16,000 crore.
However, Lalu was also accused of a land-for-jobs scam during his tenure. Cases registered by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate in the matter are being heard in special courts in Rouse Avenue, New Delhi.
The accused include several of Lalu’s family members including his wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi, eldest daughter and Patliputra MP Misa Bharti, and sons Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav.
Lalu, Tejashwi and Tej Pratap are expected to appear at a Rouse Avenue court on Monday.
Lalu asserted that the Congress would win the Haryana Assembly polls and that this should be viewed as the defeat of Prime Minister Modi.
Replying to queries by journalists before boarding his flight from Patna to Delhi, he said: “Ye parajay hai Narendra Modi ka (This will be Narendra Modi’s defeat).”
Misa, who was accompanying Lalu, too answered reporters’ questions about the exit polls, most of which have indicated that the Congress, an RJD ally, would wrest Haryana from the BJP.
“I see it as a victory for the INDIA bloc, of which our party is a part. Haryana is going to get a government of the people,” Misa said.
