In the evening, the railway minister was to fly to Delhi, but she chose to cancel the trip. “She was busy holding meetings with senior leaders like Mukul Roy and Partho Chatterjee over the municipal polls, which are far more important than the Mumbai issue. She has to devise strategies to combat the Congress and the Left here and that needs time,” said a Trinamool leader.

In Delhi, meanwhile, Trinamool chief whip Sudip Bandopadhyay bore the brunt of the Opposition attack in the Lok Sabha.

Sources close to the Trinamool chief said through the day, she got regular updates about the strike from senior railway officials. In fact, the executive director of the Public Grievance Cell of the Railways, Jayanta Saha, dropped in to brief the minister.

Later in the day, the Maharashtra CM called up, requesting her to take stern measures against the striking motormen and break the impasse.

Sources also said Banerjee was in touch with Bandopadhyay throughout the proceedings in Parliament.

“She watched the entire proceedings on television and was calling up members of the Railway Board,” a source said.

The media contingent that had landed there for her reaction to the crippling strike in Mumbai and the sudden news of former mayor Subrata Mukherjee joining the Trinamool was curtly told she would not step out of the house.

Madan Mitra, a trusted ally of the Trinamool chief, said, “She has said she would not even go to her office. She would talk to the press later.”

The railway minister has not attended Parliament for the last few days.