Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s proposal to bring a white paper on the “organisational, operational and financial situation and performance of Railways in the past five years” seems to have “perturbed” Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Though Lalu put up a brave face and stressed he had no reason to “feel perturbed”, the nagging discomfiture was writ all over his visage. Without even being asked, Lalu said: “No facts were hidden in my budget. It was audited by CAG and other competent bodies. It can be verified,” the beleaguered RJD chief declared at the very beginning of his press conference, alleging that his successor suffers from a “complex”. “Budget se ye saaf hai ki mantrijee complex se pideet hai (It is very clear from the budget that the Minister is gripped with complex),” Lalu remarked.

Repeatedly quizzed about Banerjee’s intentions, Lalu declared: “She is a minister and she can bring any paper she wants to. Have I committed a fraud that I should be concerned? The facts are in writing and it has been verified by national and international institutions.”

Subsequently, however, he went on to balance it and pointed out that it would be unfair to read any motive behind the white paper proposal as it could be positive too. “She might be planning to use my achievement in the last five years to base the 2020 vision for the Railways. I don’t have anything against Mamataji. She is a nice lady,” Lalu said.

Though Lalu picked holes in the budget presented by his successor, his trademark wit and humour were clearly missing as the RJD chief failed to come up with any convincing opposition. He repeatedly recalled the past tenure of Banerjee to underline how she had failed to pay dividends. He termed the budget “impractical” and said Banerjee had used his achievements to take credit.

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