Lalu, Mamata are not on the same track

HIS OLD JOB: Former minister Lalu Prasad claims he saved the Railways.

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New Delhi: Former railway minister Lalu Prasad on Friday snubbed incumbent Mamata Banerjee and said her Budget had nothing new.

Prasad, chief of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, alleged Banerjee had used his achievements in the Ministry to build her case.

Prasad, who was dropped from the Cabinet after elections, accused Banerjee of neglecting Bihar in the budget. Prasad said he was not bothered by the Minister's announcement that she would bring out a white paper on the financial situation and performance of Railways in the past five years.

"This is not an embarrassment (that a white paper is coming out). Let her bring out white paper. I am not

bothered," he told reporters after Banerjee presented the rail budget in Lok Sabha.

"Is this a budget? She has just read out what I had announced during my stint...She suffers from a complex," he said.

Prasad and Banerjee had a spat during the Budget speech.

"I respect you. You have done some things and I will do some things--I need support," Banerjee told the RJD chief, who was heard making certain comments on the Budget proposals.

While announcing a scheme providing employment to the tribals near Lalgarh, Banerjee said: "let me do one or two (for Bengal). You did so much (for Bihar)."

At this, Prasad got up and told her, "I am not interrupting you. Why are you after me?"

She criticised, in a veiled manner, her predecessor's tenure as she said that Railways had incurred a loss in the last financial year. She, however, tried to sugarcoat it by saying that the economic slowdown contributed to this.