New Delhi, Aug. 3 (PTI): Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi, whose room in Parliament House was yesterday briefly allotted to Ambika Soni, held meetings today in a corridor as his nameplate was missing on the office door.

“If my nameplate has been removed how can I enter the room?” asked a bitter Trivedi. “It is an insult to the railway ministry.”

Room 6 in the Parliament House, which had been occupied at different times by railway ministers Mamata Banerjee, Lalu Prasad, Nitish Kumar and C.K. Jaffer Sharief, was yesterday allotted to information and broadcasting minister Soni.

Trivedi, who came to know the matter yesterday morning, approached finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to sort out the matter. Mukherjee told the Trinamul minister he would speak to Pawan Bansal, who as the parliamentary affairs minister was in-charge of allotting rooms for ministers in the Parliament building. Later yesterday, the matter was sorted out in Trivedi’s favour.

However, this morning when he arrived, Trivedi found his nameplate missing. “I am not fond of any particular room. It is not for the minister’s comfort, but to facilitate the MPs’ meeting in Parliament. It is an insult to the railway ministry which has 14 lakh employees,” Trivedi said while holding meetings with former railway minister Lalu Prasad and railway board chief Vinay Mittal.

Trinamul MP Sudip Bandopadhyay raised the matter with the Prime Minister, who instructed Bansal to resolve the matter. Bansal, who also spoke to Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee over phone, said Trivedi would get room 6.

Bandopadhyay said Singh had spoken to Bansal about allotting a big room for Trinamul as it is the second largest party in the UPA.

Bandopadhyay said Bansal had also invited Mamata to Parliament. Sources said three rooms on the ground floor of the Parliament House had been vacant after the resignations of Mamata, Dayanidhi Maran and Murli Deora as Union ministers. A decision was taken to allot these rooms to cabinet ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad, Soni and Sushil Kumar Shinde.

Sources said Soni was intimated in this regard, but Trivedi’s office was not told about the notice. Trivedi opposed the move saying that the room traditionally belonged to the railway ministry. Bansal, the sources said, explained to the Trinamul leader that the rooms were not allotted on the basis of which ministry had occupied it earlier. The problem has got compounded because Trinamul does not have an office room in Parliament.

Sources said Mamata’s party was allotted a room on the third floor, which was the RJD’s parliamentary office. Lalu Prasad’s party has not vacated the room.

There are similar problems regarding the party office allotted to the DMK, which is still being occupied by the Telugu Desam.

The rooms for ministers are allotted by the parliamentary affairs minister while party offices are allotted by the Lok Sabha Speaker.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi downplayed the controversy and said it will be resolved soon.