President accepts Mamata’s resignation, Mukul Roy is junior railway minister (Lead)
May 19th, 2011 - 11:07 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, May 19 (IANS) President Pratibha Patil Thursday accepted the resignation of
Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister-designate Mamata Banerjee as railway minister. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will now look after the portfolio, an official spokesperson said.
The prime minister will be assisted by Trinamool general secretary and Minister of State for Shipping Mukul Roy, who has been entrusted with the additional charge of railways, a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson told IANS.
“The President of India, as advised by the prime minister of India, has accepted the resignation of Mamata Banerjee, Minister of Railways, from the Council of Ministers, with immediate effect and directed that the charge of Ministry of Railways will be looked after by the Prime Minister,” a communique from the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.
“Further, as advised by the prime minister, the president has directed that Mukul Roy, Minister of State in the Ministry of Shipping will be assigned additional charge as Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways.”
Roy, who is the general secretary of the Trinamool, was tipped to take charge of railways. In fact, Banerjee had indicated after her meeting with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and the prime minister that the “party would like to retain the portfolio”.
Banerjee had submitted her resignation earlier Thursday. She will be sworn in Friday as West Bengal’s first woman chief minister.
Mamata took over as railway minister in the United Progressive Alliance-II government in May 2009. She had also held the same portfolio for less than two years in the National Democratic Alliance government
The Congress has decided to join the new West Bengal ministry. The Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance had routed the Left in the assembly election results announced May 13, ending 34 years of communist rule in the state.
As many as 36 of the ministers will be from TNC, and seven from the Congress, according to official sources. Banerjee will head a 43-member ministerial team that includes several giant killers and representatives from various sections of society.
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