Accountability is a good system in government, and the prime minister will take a call on the "request" made by the railway minister, Union minister Arun Jaitley said today hours after Suresh Prabhu indicated that he has offered to quit.
Responding to a poser on the resignation of Railway Board Chairman A K Mittal and the meeting of Prabhu with Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he took moral responsibility over the accidents and indicated that he had offered to quit, Jaitley said "accountability is a good system in government".
He also said that the prime minister will take a decision "on whatever request the railway minister has made". Prabhu tweeted: "I met the Hon'ble Prime Minister @narendramodi taking full moral responsibility. Hon'ble PM has asked me to wait." Mittal has been replaced by Air India CMD Ashwini Lohani as the new chairman of the railway board.
PM must sack Prabhu, says Congress
The Congress today accused Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu of having "utterly failed" in his job and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack him and appoint a "responsible person" in the position. This "responsibility business" would not do, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said while stressing that Prabhu had to resign.
Surjewala was referring to Prabhu's tweet that he took "full moral responsibility" for the recent train accidents and indicating that he had offered to resign in a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also urged the prime minister to appoint a responsible person in his place and draw a safety map for the railways.
"This responsibility business will not do. Either prime minister should sack the railways minister or he should accept his resignation. It is time for the prime minister to come forward and lay down a roadmap of safety for the railways," the Congress leader told reporters. Sending a member of the Railway Board on leave or suspending junior officers was not enough. "The railways minister has utterly failed. We had demanded his resignation. Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu has today said, again on Twitter instead of coming forward and facing the media, that he takes responsibility." This, he said, was not acceptable.
"First sack the railways minister. Appoint a responsible person in his position. Come forward Mr Prime Minister, lay down a railways safety map. Lay down your vision for the railways to be implemented in the next one year," he said.
On August 19, 13 coaches of the Kalinga Utkal Express derailed in Khatauli, Uttar Pradesh, killing over 20 passengers and injuring over 150.
Today, four days later, at least 100 people were injured when the Kaifiyat Express derailed in Auraiya in the state.
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