February 27, 2011 / 12:25 IST
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had her eyes firmly on the West Bengal assembly election when she presented the Railway Budget 2011-12 in Parliament on Friday. For the third successive year, the Railway Minister refused to increase passenger fares and freight rates even as she announced many projects for her home state, reports IBNlive.com.
Critics have allegedly called her the railway minister of Bengal. In her first interview after announcing the budget, Banerjee defended her populist budget on CNN-IBN. Responding to the allegations, she said, "The 8 MPs that attacked me on this charge have their own political motives."She added that Mumbai was given 900 new coaches because of emergency projects. Banerjee also said that no other railway minister had done anything for Jammu & Kashmir.Below is a verbatim transcript of the interview.Rajdeep Sardesai: Hello and welcome, I am joined with the politician of the moment, the country
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