Dinesh Trivedi has not resigned: Pranab Mukherjee

Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi has not resigned but a communication from Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee was under "active consideration" of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

Amid turmoil over the Trivedi issue, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the House that the communication from Banerjee was received late last night and "as and when a decision will be taken, the House will be informed."

Mukherjee did not divulge details of the communication and his remarks came after opposition uproar over the issue of reported resignation of Trivedi as Railway Minister.

BJP and Left leaders described the situation as "unusual and unprecedented" and sought clarifications from the Prime Minister as it showed his coalition government in "poor light" and as "weak".

Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, Sharad Yadav (JD-U), Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M) and Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI) had given notices for suspension of Question Hour and sought clarification from the government.

Speaker Meira Kumar disallowed their notices but allowed them to have their say.

Trivedi was sitting in the front row in the Lok Sabha which is usually occupied by senior ministers and questions were listed against his name for reply during Question Hour. However, the House was adjourned before the questions could be taken up.

Trivedi was seen being complimented by several Congress members before the House assembled for the day.

Swaraj also wanted clarification on the Railway Budget, to which Mukherjee said the government owned up the proposals that were approved by him as Finance Minister.

"The Constitutional position is that the Railway Budget is owned by the government. It is approved by the Finance Minister. Cabinet approval is not required. I own the responsibility and now it is the property of the house," Mukherjee said.

"This house has the inherent right to approve every proposal, make changes and decide the fate of the fiscal proposals," he said.

At the same time, Mukherjee reminded the opposition that they too had run a coalition government for six years.

"It is not unusual. Those who have run the coalition for six years ... they know it much better," he said referring to the pulls and pressures of running a coalition government.

"They (NDA) were running their coalition government in the same way, perhaps in a worse way than we are running," he said amid thumping of desks by members of Treasury benches.

As the opposition created uproar over Mukherjee's remarks, he told them that they were behaving like "petulant children".

"You are behaving like petulant children. Behave like leaders not like petulant children," he said.

As the Speaker took up the Question Hour, BJP members trooped in the Well demanding a statement from the Prime Minister. Amid din, she adjourned the House till noon.

Earlier, Trinamool leader Sudip Bandopadhyay told the House that the party members had not asked Trivedi to tender his resignation.

"The Trinamool Congress has not even asked Dinesh Trivedi to tender his resignation. The matter has to be settled between my leader and the Prime Minister," he said.

"The government is totally settled and would complete its term," Bandopadhyay said.

Earlier, Swaraj said the country was faced with Constitutional crisis as no sooner had the Railway Minister presented the Budget his party leader asked the Prime Minister to remove him from the cabinet.

She said some unusual events were taking place after a political quake that hit the government yesterday.

"A Parliamentary Affairs Minister has gone missing from the House. Is Dinesh Trivedi still the Railway Minister. What is the status of the Railway Budget? The House would like to know the government's response to this uncertain situation," Swaraj said.

Having a dig at the government, NDA Convenor Sharad Yadav said though the Opposition wanted the government to go, till the time it is there it should remain with honour and should not be a lameduck one. "Till the government runs, it should be run properly," he said.

Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M) said that for the first time a minister has presented the Railway Budget and has been asked to resign.

"It is also for the first time that ministers of this government are staging a sit-in against the minister and his budget proposals," he said.

Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI) supported the Trinamool demand of rollback for the hike in rail fares and said Mamata Banerjee, as a citizen, had every right to demand the same.

Dasgupta said the concept of Cabinet responsibility was being targeted in the Trivedi episode.

"The message is going that the government is weak. Protect the foundations of democracy....government must put its house in order," Dasgupta said.

Trivedi's proposal to hike rail fares in the Railway Budget earned him the ire of Banerjee who sent a late night communication to the Prime Minister suggesting him to replace Trivedi with Mukul Roy.