Mukul Roy from Trinamool Congress has joined the country’s union cabinet as the railway minister after the resignation of his party colleague Dinesh Trivedi.

Roy was sworn in as India's new railway minister on Tuesday following the resignation of Trivedi over his reluctance to roll back in price hikes he introduced as part of the rail budget for the year. Trivedi stepped down on Sunday after the Trinamool Congress expressed its opposition to his decision to raise passenger fares.

"The new Railway Minister … will have the onerous duty of carrying forward the challenging task of modernizing our railway system," said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Roy ahs worked as a junior minister for shipping in Singh's council of ministers.

He represents West Bengal in the Rajya Sabha and has already served as the junior minister for railways in 2011. Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress has said today that it is unlikely to take any action against the minister.

Trivedi said the he has been asked to attend a parliamentary party meeting that will be attended by Mamata Banerjee as well. Prime Minister's Office had called Trivedi yesterday and asked him to tender his resignation.