A passenger waits for a train to leave Amritsar station. (AFP)

New Delhi, July 3: Fifteen minutes past 10am, the time Mamata Banerjee had planned to leave her apartment for Rail Bhavan to pick up the budget papers, she was still stuck at home.

Two rail ministry officials arrived, leapt out of their car and raced inside. Ten minutes later, the Trinamul Congress chief walked out, her trademark purple jhola (cloth bag) slung across her shoulder.

She was late, and had to carry a packet of biscuits with her to fortify a near-empty stomach, a household aide said.

But Mamata did not allow delay or disturbance to derail her as she weathered repeated taunts to present her third rail budget.

Rail ministers usually carry budget papers in a suitcase. They usually come in white Ambassadors.

Mamata chose her jhola and travelled in her usual grey Maruti Zen, driven by close aide Ratan Mukherjee.

As she rose to read out her speech, the CPM’s Basudev Acharya stood up to interrupt. Despite being asked by the Speaker to sit down, Acharya continued for about three minutes.

But Mamata took off on her speech, ignoring Acharya’s interruptions even as Congress and Trinamul MPs clamoured for the CPM leader to sit down.

Mamata’s predecessor Lalu Prasad was the next to interrupt.

“Laluji, aapka respect karti hoon, aap jab bolte the to main kuch nahi bolti. Aapko bhi sunna chahiye (Laluji, I respect you, when you would speak, I never interrupted you. You too should listen),” Mamata tried to reason.

Before long, though, Lalu Prasad was up again, arguing that most new proposals to upgrade stations appeared to be ignoring Bihar.

“Hai… woh bhi hai (It’s there),” Mamata said, insisting that she was reading out only select stations to save time.

Later, she even indulged in banter with Lalu Prasad. Announcing plans to transform 375 stations into “ideal” ones, Mamata jocularly sought the Speaker’s permission to read out the entire list for Lalu Prasad’s benefit.

But it was at her apartment that she faced the first hurdle, sources close to her said. “Didi” was expected to leave home around 10 am. But even as she was getting ready to leave, Mamata asked railway officials for “last-minute” clarifications on budget documents.

With media personnel crowding Rail Bhavan, any discussion on the budget had to be held at Mamata’s house, sources said.