Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Monday demanded the resignation of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in the wake of the train accident in Andhra Pradesh where 14 people were killed and 50 others injured. OPCC president Sarat Pattnayak said Vaishnaw should resign from the post on "moral grounds due to frequent train accidents" during the NDA regime at the Centre.
"The prime minister should drop Vaishnaw from the Railway Ministry if he is not effectively managing affairs. Otherwise, Vaishnaw should resign from the post on moral grounds," the Congress leader said. He alleged that the "people of Odisha are ashamed over Vaishnaw's inability to handle the Railway Ministry affairs".
Vaishnaw was elected to Rajya Sabha from Odisha, and all in the country have witnessed how frequently train accidents are taking place during his tenure as the railway minister, Pattnayak said. "He should accept the responsibility and remain accountable for the accidents. This is not a lone train accident. Such tragic incidents are taking place regularly, he said.
The Palasa Passenger train collided with the Rayagada Passenger train at Kantakapalli on the Howrah-Chennai line in Andhra Pradesh's Vizianagaram district on Sunday, causing three coaches to derail.
Altogether, 297 people were killed and over 1,200 injured in June when the Coromandel Express crashed into a stationary goods train, derailing most of its coaches near the Bahanaga Bazar station in Odisha's Balasore district. A few coaches of the Coromandel Express whiplashed the last few coaches of the Bengaluru-Howrah Express which was passing by at the same time.
In a separate press conference, Congress leader Panchanan Kanungo said both the BJD and the BJP should be held responsible as they had sent Vaishnaw to Rajya Sabha. Though there has been a 70 per cent increase in the number of trains, there is no such expansion of the railway tracks network, Kanungo said.
BJP state spokesperson Dilip Mallick said that this is not the time to do politics. If the minister submits his resignation, it will not solve the problem. The Congress should refrain from doing politics at this time, the BJP leader added.
