NEW DELHI: Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi was a surprise speaker at the India Today Conclave which opened here Friday.
Trivedi has been in the eye of the storm ever since he presented a railway budget that hiked rail fares for the first time in 10 years.
His budget has received applause from many quarters, including the railway unions, but his own party supremo, Mamata Banerjee is demanding tariff rollback and his replacement with her party confidante.
Trivedi stepped on the dais to a thunderous applause and looked remarkably relaxed. When India Today editorial director M.J. Akbar asked about the possibility of a rollback, he said "If you roll back, you roll back on safety also."
About his own job security, his response was equally calm.
"It's difficult for the PM to take a call on my continuance. I am not on trial, the system is," he said,
Trivedi claimed that he had taken a call for a generational change in the railways and he had followed his own judgment rather than trying to safeguard his position as the minister.