New Delhi, July 17
Rashtriya Janata Dal President Laloo Prasad Yadav today urged the Centre not to change its earlier decision about creation of new railway zones.
He said the Central Government should not succumb to the pressure of Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee as it would not be in the interests of the region.
Mr Yadav, along with leaders of the Samata Party and the Janata Dal, NDA partners, met Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani today in this regard.
He said it was a long-pending demand of Bihar to create a new railway zone with Hajipur as its headquarters. Bihar should not be deprived of the justice it got after so many years, he said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s intervention will be the key for a forward movement on the Eastern Railway bifurcation issue, which is gaining a proportion of a “war” between Bihar MPs and West Bengal MPs.
While Ms Banerjee has made it clear that she will not rejoin the Vajpayee Cabinet unless there is a review on the issue, MPs from Bihar, cutting across party lines, have threatened to force for the shifting of Damodar Valley Corportion and Coal India Limited, both headquartered in Kolkata, to Patna if West Bengal MPs do not reconcile on the railway zone issue.
Under the circumstances, the West Bengal MPs are banking on the “goodwill” of the Prime Minister on their demand for a review on the bifurcation issue.
Meanwhile, NDA convener and Defence Minister George Fernandes told newspersons that the bifurcation issue could figure in tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting.
