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Anand Mohan Sahay in Patna
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar have joined hands to work as a pressure group to push for the bifurcation of the Eastern Railway.
This is the first time that the two parties have come together.
The East Central zone that will be created after the bifurcation of Eastern Railway would have its headquarters at Hajipur in Bihar and would bring about all-round development of the region.
The Eastern Railway is headquartered in Kolkata and West Bengal is opposed to its bifurcation for obvious reasons.
In West Bengal too political parties have closed ranks on the issue.
The Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee, in fact, is lobbying hard with the prime minister's office to stall the bifurcation.
An all-party delegation from Bihar met Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani and Railway Minister Nitish Kumar in New Delhi on Thursday.
"The decision to join hands [with other parties] is nothing but a move to counter the pressure of Mamata Banerjee and CPM leaders of West Bengal," a senior BJP leader said.
Interestingly, Nitish Kumar, who hails from Bihar and is known as a political rival of RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav, is now in regular touch with him.
Laloo, on more than one occasion, has openly supported Kumar's stand on the bifurcation.
Last week, the Bihar assembly passed a resolution unanimously thanking Nitish Kumar for the proposal to create the East Central Railway zone. It was once again an apparent move to counter a resolution passed by the West Bengal assembly opposing the bifurcation of Eastern Railway.
It is estimated that the new railway zone at Hajipur, which will comprise of five divisions -- Sonepur, Samastipur, Danapur, Mughalsarai and Dhanbad -- will generate an annual revenue of more than Rs 1000 crore (Rs 10,000 million).
"Bihar will easily earn Rs 200 crore (Rs 2,000 million) a year from the new railway zone as sales tax," senior RJD leader Ramkirpal Yadav said.
ALSO SEE: Bifurcation to improve efficiency: Nitish Decision on ER split by Sunday: Advani Nitish Kumar ready for debate in Parliament on bifurcation Eastern Railways Union calls for agitation against bifurcation Trinamool hopeful of a solution to bifurcation issue
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