| New Delhi, March 14: The Congress core committee met tonight at the Prime Minister's residence to discuss Mamata Banerjee's demand for immediate dismissal of railway minister Dinesh Trivedi and decided to wait till the presentation of the general budget on March 16. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee late tonight spoke to Mamata. Sources said she had agreed to wait only till Friday — when the general budget is scheduled to be presented — though the Prime Minister felt that Trivedi should continue at least till the first half of the budget session as he has to reply to the debate on the rail budget. The Congress meeting was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Mukherjee, home minister P. Chidambaram, defence minister A.K. Antony and Sonia's political secretary Ahmed Patel. Information that Mamata had sought the dismissal of the railway minister reached the Congress in the evening, though it was more or less reconciled to the eventuality earlier in the day itself. Sources said the Prime Minister had no option now as coalition partners had been allowed to decide their ministers but agreed that nothing could be more embarrassing for the government than the railway minister getting sacked on the day of rail budget. An AICC functionary said: "It is a commentary on the government's plight rather than a personal jolt to Trivedi." While one Congress leader interpreted this as an open challenge to the Congress and the government as both the Prime Minister and the finance minister had praised the rail budget, another said Mamata had delivered a huge blow to the credibility of this regime. But nobody was willing to speak on record as survival of the government was uppermost in their minds. Spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi insisted the Congress had no locus standi and did not want to interfere in the intra-party affairs of an ally. He said Mamata was well within her right to nominate a person of her own choice. Ironically, the Prime Minister had opposed Mukul Roy's elevation as railway minister previously but the Congress may not take that risk in this crisis situation. The fears of mid-term polls have already intensified after the Uttar Pradesh election outcome and many in the Congress feel politics was moving towards a phase of greater instability. Although the Samajwadi Party has categorically said it was not interested in destabilising the Centre, sources in both the parties admit that the bitterness during the campaign would not have been completely forgotten by Mulayam Singh Yadav. Some leaders say Mamata, too, would not have acted so boldly without a long-term gameplan as she would understand such a radical decision was bound to deeply upset Manmohan as well as Sonia. Budgets, rail or general, are prepared under the broad guidance of the Prime Minister and the cabinet finally clears them. One Congress leader said: "Trivedi said he brought the rail ministry out of the ICU. We hope somebody will now bring the central government out of the ICU." Congress leaders said Mamata's demand could be seen as a rebuff to the Prime Minister, too. Sources reveal that the Prime Minister and the finance minister were aware of the increase in fare and they had approved this step as internal resource generation was an imperative for the expansion and revitalisation of the system. A chief minister trying to dictate a rollback obviously comes as a huge embarrassment for the Prime Minister but he is not in a position to make it a prestige issue. The Congress may think of Trivedi's political rehabilitation but only at a later stage. Sources in the government said the insistence of two successive railway ministers, Lalu Prasad and Mamata, that fares would not be hiked defied economic logic as even passengers' emphasis was on safety and improvement of service and they were prepared to bear small burdens towards achieving this goal. But the Congress, accustomed to digesting snubs from Trinamul, officially stuck to its balancing act. Repeatedly asked if the Congress supports the fare hike, spokesperson Rashid Alvi said: "We are not opposing it." Asked if the hike would be rolled back, the spokesperson said: "These are the railway minister's proposals and now Parliament has to discuss and decide." Although he said "no" when asked if the Congress too demanded a rollback, Alvi expressed the hope that a consensus would emerge after discussions. Consensus on what, on rollback or hike? A tentative reply came: "On the majority view." The extreme caution was in sharp contrast with the applause with which the Prime Minister and finance minister greeted the railway budget. While Singh described it as "forward-looking budget", Mukherjee hailed the reduction in operating ratio. | 
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