Who is Mr. Dinesh Trivedi?

The spiraldown from Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's trusted pointsman in New Delhi to party outcast took Dinesh Trivedi but some months as Railway Minister and a bold rail budget.

A trained pilot and an articulate, suave and widely travelled politician, Mr Trivedi landed in trouble after he announced a hike in passenger fares in his first rail budget. The hike he announced today was nominal, but Ms Banerjee is said to be "deeply upset" and has said it is unacceptable. Trinamool leaders said it is against the party's DNA.

And late on Wednesday night, sources said, he sent in his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who will forward it to the President. That came after Mr Trivedi's party chief, Mamata Banerjee, wrote to the PM asking for Mr Trivedi to be fired as Railways Minister. Ms Banerjee is punishing Mr Trivedi for announcing a nominal hike in train passenger fares in his budget.

Mr Trivedi's removal will make political history - this is the first time that a minister will be removed even before Parliament debates his budget. J&K chief minister and UPA ally Omar Abdullah, tweeted on Thursday morning, "Long after other #railway ministers are forgotten #DineshTriwedi will still be an answer to a General Knowledge or Entrance test question."

Mr Trivedi, who comes from a business family, thought otherwise. For him it was more important for the railways to mop up internal resources and make the ailing behemoth healthy and increase its safety and security levels in the interest of the passengers. And despite the loud demands from his party for a roll-back of the fare hikes, and subtle suggestions that he put in his papers, Trivedi quietly defended his budget.

Trinamool leaders point out that though the 61-year-old Trivedi played a crucial role in maintaining the party's liaison with national political leaders for years, he was not Ms Banerjee's first choice as railway minister after she demitted office on becoming West Bengal chief minister last May. She had then handpicked her close aide, Mukul Roy, for the post, but it was said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh intervened and made it clear he disapproved of her choice. It was then that Ms Banerjee reportedly opted for Mr Trivedi, who had been serving as minister of state for health since emerging victorious from the Barrackpore constituency in North 24 Parganas district in the May, 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

Mr Trivedi, known for filing public suits, stepped into Banerjee's office at the Rail Bhavan last June. A couple of months before that, he had reportedly offered to resign as minister of state for health and family welfare in support of social activist Anna Hazare and his movement against corruption.

The elevation to cabinet rank in the plum railway ministry was considered a feather in the cap for Mr Trivedi, an MBA from Texas, who had worked hard during the Trinamool's troubled times for the better part of the 1990s and most part of the next decade.

Mr Trivedi is a commerce graduate from Kolkata's famous St. Xavier's College and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. He was in the travel business before he joined politics. He started his career as a Congressman, who switched over to the V.P. Singh-led Janata Dal. He first entered Parliament as a Rajya Sabha member in 1990 and remained in the Upper House till 2008.