With erstwhile ally Congress supporting Mamata Banerjee’s decision to bring out a White Paper on Railway performance in the past five years, and rival JD(U) supporting her Railway Budget, a cornered, isolated and visibly upset Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday demanded setting up of a Parliamentary committee to inquire into allegations over his tenure in the Railway Ministry and to clear doubts within seven days.

“Lalu’s tenure as Railway Minister would be remembered in history as the golden period of the Railways... but the last portion of the (Railway) budget speech is being misinterpreted... I demand a House committee to go into it. There are officers to verify the figures (of the past five years)... Do it in next seven days,” Lalu said while speaking in the Lok Sabha during a discussion on the Railway Budget.

While Lalu refrained from attacking either the Congress or Mamata on Tuesday, saying her statement on White Paper was “misinterpreted”, it was welcomed by the BJP and JD(U). They accused that as railway minister, Lalu had indulged in “accounting jugglery” to inflate performance.

That Lalu remains hopeful of rebuilding bridges with the Congress was evident even on Monday when he approached Congress president Sonia Gandhi after the presentation of the General Budget. However, even as he stood near her for a while, Sonia looked the other way, forcing Lalu to greet Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and make a quiet exit.

On Tuesday, the Congress dealt him another snub when it denied charges that Mamata was “belittling her predecessor” with her White Paper plan. “Your question is on the assumption that the White Paper will go in a certain direction. If the Railway Minister’s move increases transparency, I don't think there is anything wrong,” AICC spokesman Manish Tewari said.

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