New Delhi: Congress today came down heavily on the Rail budget and alleged that the Railway Minister has not only “derailed” it but has “pulled a fast one” on the people by failing to lower fares despite downturn in global crude prices.
“A trained Chartered Accountant has derailed the budget,” said party spokesman Rajiv Gowda, accusing Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu of jugglery, fudging the numbers and selling dreams without a concrete roadmap.
Dubbing the exercise as “extremely disappointing”, he said there has been “zero new trains” and the budget showed that the ‘heart” of the NDA government is with the elite and not with the poor.
The Rail budget has shown that the government only cares for the rich and not for the millions of poor thirsty of connectivity, he added.
Taking a dig at Prabhu, Gowda said the Railway Minister was “poached” by the Prime Minister from Shiv Sena, but has failed to demonstrate how capable he was.
Railway Minister should have brought down the freight rates to give a stimulus to the economy, but has instead raised them, he said.
“The Railway Minister has shown the extraordinary ability of juggling the numbers. We see a dream budget of a dreamer who has made all kind of promises without a concrete plan,” he said wondering where was the ‘bullet train' promised by Narendra Modi.
