After much humiliation at the hands of the whimsical Mamata Banerjee and the UPA government held hostage by Trinamool support, railway minister Dinesh Trivedi had to quit over the budget he presented last week. The fare hikes he had proposed did not go down well with Banerjee. The Trinamool minister in the union cabinet was attacked by party colleagues just as he was flayed by the opposition. However, the only bright patch for him was that prime minister and other senior UPA ministers had endorsed the budget. But after some blackmailing by Trinamool, the government dropped Trivedi like a hot potato.

Now, the railway budget, before being presented is cleared by both — the prime minister and the finance minister. So, the failure to defend Trivedi and his budget must rightly be seen as a failure of the government to defend its own policies: policies that were hailed by most as a much-needed dose of reforms for the ailing Railways. The sacking of Trivedi also sends out the signal that allies may arm-twist the government to their own political ends.

Considering this and other points that you may have, do you think that a government that failed to save its own minister can save the sick Railways?