'Did your aunt resign for Jnaneswari?': BJP leader backs IITian Ashwini Vaishnaw
Mamata Banerjee did not resign after Jnaneshwari and her party later inducted accused Chhatradhar Mahato, BJP's Suvendu Adhikari said.
Amid the war of words between the BJP and the Trinamool over the Odisha triple train collision involving two Bengal trains, BJP's Suvdendu Adhikari trained his gun at Trinamool Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee and asked whether his aunt Mamata Banerjee resigned as the railway minister after the Jnaneswari accident in 2010. "What could be expected more from a dimwit half-educated person catapulted in Politics only because his aunt is the proprietor of the family business, portrayed as a political party," Suvendu said in a swipe at Abhishek. Read | 'Soon, no one killed 288+ people': Politics over Odisha train crash amid ‘sabotage’ theory
Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express and Bengaluru- Howrah Superfast collided in Odisha's Balasore on Friday evening killing 288 people. The collision involved a goods train adding to the impact of the accident manifold. Victims included many from Bengal as both the passenger trains were from Bengal. The Coromandel was on its way to Chennai from Howrah's Shalima; the other was on its way to Howrah.
West Bengal government sent its team to the site soon after the crash and chief minister Mamata Banerjee went to Odisha on Saturday. The tragedy became a flashpoint between the BJP and the Trinamool as the Trinamool squarely blamed railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for the tragedy.
Mamata Banerjee and Vaishnaw were caught on camera arguing over the Coromandel accident toll where Mamata said the toll could be above 500 but the railway minister contradicted and confirmed that rescue work was already over.
The BJP said Mamata and her party had no ground to seek Ashwini Vaishnaw's resignation as Mamata did not resign after Jnaneshwari. "I would like to remind you that the CBI Chargesheeted Accused behind that tragedy; Chatradhar Mahato belonged to your party & was again inducted to the state committee of your party after he walked out of the jail in 2020, by your aunt; who was the then Railway Minister," Suvendu said.
"Ashwini Vaishnaw ji is an IIT alumni and a former IAS officer of the 1994 batch. He is the most suitable person to hold the fort at this distressful moment," Suvendu said.
Rail ministers who resigned after train accidents
Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned from his post of railway minister after over 140 people died in a train accident in 1956 in Tamil Nadu. Months before, 112 people died in an accident in Andhra Pradesh.
In 1999, Nitish Kumar resigned from his minister post after the Gaisal train accident.