RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who presented five railway budgets when he headed the ministry in UPA-I, lashed out at the budget placed on Wednesday by Dinesh Trivedi. He spoke to The Telegraph’s Pheroze Vincent

“The rail budget is an animal no one can identify — it has no ears, no eyes nothing. It is like a cow, a Jersey cow, which can neither produce milk nor have calves now. When I was rail minister neither did I increase fares nor did I accept loans for anything except national projects. Yet we earned Rs 60,000 crore. Dinesh (Trivedi) is a good man but I don’t know who told him to raise the fares. His budget is aimed at privatising this lifeline of India. Sixty per cent of goods are now transported by road. I had proposed a dedicated freight corridor. Eastern and western freight corridors will bring huge revenues to railways. All this is pending… What will he (Trivedi) do? Majboor hain. The Union government will not give him money. This budget should be rolled back. There should be a proper discussion in Parliament on where revenue is being exhausted. We will tell him (Trivedi) how to raise money…. Make me railway minister for 15 days and I will bring railways back in surplus. Will the regulatory authority now decide fares? Isn’t there a rail minister and a railway board? We have political understanding. We know how much a common man can afford. This budget will lead to destruction of the character of the railways.”