Mukul Roy to decide on rollback of hiked fares: Mamata Banerjee

New Delhi, Mar 20 (ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that the new Railway Minister Mukul Roy would decide on the rollback of hiked fares.

"I can't say anything. It is a Parliament proceeding. It is the Minister who will say. I said that he has just taken over. You trust him, he will do work for the people," she told the media before leaving for Kolkata.

Banerjee further said she would return to New Delhi next month to attend a series of meetings.

"I will be coming on 10th (April) because we have the State Planning Commission meeting. On 16th (April), I will be coming to attend this NCTC (National Counter Terrorism Centre) meeting," she said.

Roy was earlier in the day sworn-in as Railway Minister.

Roy, who was the Minister of State for Shipping, is a close aide of TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and is said to have been her first choice last year for the important Railways berth that she had vacated when she took over as West Bengal Chief Minister last May.

Roy's predecessor Dinesh Trivedi has been lauded by the Prime Minister, Cabinet colleagues and industry for his bold budget, in which he announced an increase in train passenger fares, the first in nine years.

It was that move that also cost him his job. So upset was his party chief, that she first demanded his removal from the Cabinet and then forced him to resign.

Last week, Banerjee announced Roy's name as Trivedi's replacement, much before the latter had put in his papers.

However, the row over Trivedi exposed emerging differences and perceived erosion of ties between the Congress and its ally TMC.

For the past few months, the TMC has kept the Congress on tenterhooks on various issues of national and state concern, such as the price rise, allowing foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, the issue of establishing the NCTC, and Mamata Banerjee's decision to skip the Prime Minister's visit to Bangladesh last year. (ANI)