Move over Mukul, DMK may get railway ministry

The Dravida Munettra Kazhagam is hopeful of getting the railway portfolio in the next reshuffle, say our sources in Delhi. Buzz is that the DMK had specifically asked for railways even in 2004, which did not happen.

Now, eight years on, the demand was repeated when DMK senior leader and M Karunanidhi's son MK Stalin met United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi in Delhi last week.

The buzz is that TR Baalu, who met Sonia, along with Stalin, may get the portfolio. Baalu is chairman of the Parliament Standing committee of Railways and has been announcing that in 2013 Tamil Nadu will get new railway lines.

Baalu's hidden agenda, say sources, is to have 15 to 20 new railway lines in the parliamentary constituencies where the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had won.

A few DMK and Congress members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu have asked Union Railway Minister Mukul Roy to announce services in the state. They have also approached presiding officers of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha over the same issue.

For now, an ADMK MP may move a privilege motion against Baalu for flouting his position. T Subbirami Reddy as chairman of Environment had tried similar tactics earlier, but then Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh brought this to the notice of the prime minister, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Vice President Hamid Ansari and speaker of the Lok Sabha.