New Delhi, Nov 18 (IANS) Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury Wednesday criticised Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee for failing to ensure safety of train passengers.
Referring to the recent major rail accidents, Yechury said the railway minister was “sitting on other agenda” - a reference to Banerjee’s West Bengal-centric politics.

The results of the April-May Lok Sabha elections and the bye-elections to the West Bengal state assembly show that the Marxists are losing ground to Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in the state where the leftists have been in power for over three decades.

Yechury said the issue of passengers’ safety should be discussed in parliament. “The Left will raise the issue,” he told reporters here.

The past 40 days have seen six rail accidents, of which two were major.

Yechury said the recent sugarcane pricing ordinance by the central government is an issue of “centre-state relations”.

“Several state governments have opposed the ordinance,” Yechury said, and added that the matter has to be discussed in parliament.

The Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) Ordinance has fixed sugarcane price at Rs.129.84 per quintal, in comparison to the State Advised Price (SAP) of between Rs.165 and Rs.170.

Yechury said the Left parties were hoping to join the secular parties that are not part of the Congress-led central government to fight its corruption, wrong policies, and price rise.