Sonia to Congress MPs - 'Don't irritate Mamata'

New Delhi, July 3 : Aware of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's temper, Congress president Sonia Gandhi Friday gestured her party MPs not to upset her when she presented the railway budget in the Lok Sabha.

Banerjee clashed with Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MPs as she began her budget speech. She also had verbal duels with her predecessor Lalu Prasad.

So when Congress MPs interrupted Banerjee's speech, Gandhi repeatedly gestured them not to upset the minister. The message to the MPs seemed to be: 'Don't irritate Mamata.'

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Curious link between Marxists and toddy

The parliament compound has a large number of palm trees, whose brew extract is a popular alcoholic drink in Kerala. A CPI-M leader had recently described toddy as a 'health drink'.

'It is unfortunate the Marxists could not form a Third Front government. If they had, they would have made toddy a part of parliament canteen's menu,' a visitor to parliament from Kerala quipped.

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Stage fright for Mamata?

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee looked tense as she entered the house Friday to present the railway budget.

She arrived at noon through a door opposite the speaker's chair and chatted with some backbenchers. She then left and re-entered the house through a door opening to the treasury benches. There, she joined her Trinamool Congress colleagues.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Congress president Sonia Gandhi had a brief chat with her before she began her speech.

--IANS