It was an incumbent Railway Minister versus a former one. And the small altercations both engaged in made for captivating viewing. During her hour-long Rail Budget speech, Mamata Banerjee did not shy away from engaging in verbal duels with Lalu Prasad Yadav.

It started with Mamata announcing her ministry's plan to develop 50 railway stations as world class stations. With Lalu smirking over the move, which was originally rolled out during his term, Mamata shot back, “I respect you. You did some things. I am trying to do some more.”

Interestingly, Mamata chose to list out only 35 of these 50 stations, out of which only nine were new ones. The remaining 26 had already been announced during Lalu's term. Amongst the nine new names, Sealdah, Kolkata and Majherhat, all in Banerjee's home state, found a mention.

This year’s Rail Budget brought out the stark difference between the way both these politicians have treated it. While Lalu had almost turned the Rail Budget into a jamboree (he would be on television giving bytes since early morning till late night), Mamata stuck to a non-flashy saner way.

In fact, unlike Lalu, who used to occupy the front-row seat well in advance before he would begin his Rail Budget speech, Mamata entered the House almost unnoticed and chose to occupy a seat in the last row. It was only later that she moved a few rows and came to the forefront once the Speaker announced her turn to present the Rail Budget. Also, Mamata chose to arrive in her aide's car and did not make hullabaloo about the budget documents she was carrying. Lalu had made a ritual out of flashing a leather briefcase before the shutterbugs before entering the House.

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