Calcutta. Feb. 6 :    Calcutta. Feb. 6:  Mamata Banerjee today pulled off a virtual coup, roping in technology guru Sam Pitroda for guiding the modernisation of Indian Railways. Plugging into his continuing admiration for the late Rajiv Gandhi, their common mentor, the railway minister appointed the telecom visionary adviser to the modernisation initiative. Pitroda's company will also be a partner in RailTel Corporation - Mamata's dream project for the infotech age. Flying in from London this morning, Pitroda, architect of Rajiv Gandhi's technology missions, called on Mamata in the railway ministry during the day. The modalities of Pitroda's appointment and scope of work, however, were discussed during an unpublicised meeting between him and Mamata's think-tank, made up of Sunil Chaturvedi, a Bengal-cadre IAS officer, and Dinesh Trivedi, a Trinamul Congress general secretary, during the day. 'We feel very happy because we have succeeded in getting one of the finest technology visionaries associated with her efforts to give the railway a new look in the days ahead,' said Chaturvedi, who has been working behind the scene for several months to execute what was known in Mamata's own circle as 'Operation-Sam'. As chairman of a just-constituted advisory committee for comprehensive modernisation of the railway, Pitroda will oversee induction of new technology and manage the launch of a resource mobilisation programme within the country and abroad. A week before the railway budget, Pitroda will present an interim report on how best the health of railway finances can be improved and resources raised. The coming together of Mamata and Pitroda brings to an end an intense, but invisible, race among several powerful ministers to enlist the services of the techno-entrepreneur after it became known that the relation between him and a corporate giant was headed for an inevitable rupture. Reports suggest that the Prime Minister's Office, ministries like information technology and communications and a host of private companies had intensified their lobbying for Pitroda last December. As part of an arrangement which is going to be in place soon, Pitroda's WorldTel will be an equity partner in RailTel. In the next few months, the corporation will embark upon one of the world's single largest telecom projects to lay optical fibre cable along 65,000 km of railway track and nearly 10,000 railway stations. Advised by Mckinsey, the international consultant, to make RailTel a joint venture for smoother execution of the huge project, Mamata and his associates picked WorldTel from among a raft of global firms. Among the factors which tilted the scales in Pitroda's favour were his appointment as the head of a UN committee to spread the reach of basic telephony in developing nations and the presence of his firm in the telecom sector in as many as 23 countries. Pitroda had many offers to choose from, but Mamata's deft dealing of the Rajiv card and the enormity of the project are believed to have impressed him. 'I like it (the optical fibre project) because it is an infinitely romantic one with challenges aplenty,' Pitroda is reported to have told his associates. He was, however, not available for direct comment till late this evening. Pitroda's firm is expected to begin a global search for equity partners for RailTel. Powerhouses like GE Capital and Intel have shown interest in joining hands with RailTel, which will begin to witness programmed disinvestment in a month or two. Seen through the prism of practical politics, no matter how much the PMO and individual ministries admire Pitroda and are willing to walk a few extra miles to be able to secure his services, the Mamata breakthrough is expected to rattle the BJP. As far as the BJP is concerned, it is feeling tempted to interpret the situation like this: Pitroda is a natural extension of Rajiv Gandhi's political philosophy. On the surface, there is nothing in common between Mamata the street fighter and Pitroda the telecom visionary. Yet, they have managed to connect and do business together in exclusion of others because of the old Congress label, anathema to the BJP.