Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Thursday came in for sharp criticism from his party the Trinamool Congress with a state minister dubbing him a 'traitor'.
"He (Trivedi) neither discussed nor gave any indication to the party about the passenger fare hike. Nobody is above the party. He has committed treachery with the party and the poor people. There were other avenues for resource generation," Urban Development minister Firhad Hakim told reporters in Kolkata.
Hakim said that by saying he had taken the railways out of ICU, Trivedi had insulted party chief Mamata Banerjee.
"He became railway minister because of the party," he said. Trivedi won the election on the image of the party supremo, he said, adding "people believe her and not Trivedi.
Mamata and Trinamool Congress are always for the poor." He said the Trinamool Congress was like a family where "we work following the instructions of our party supremo."
Hakim also announced that water tax would not be increased.
