IANS

New Delhi, Aug 26: Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strategist Sudheendra Kulkarni has been appointed member of an advisory committee in the railway ministry, three days after he snapped his ties with the party.

Denying reports that he had joined the Trinamool Congress headed by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, Kulkarni said he had been appointed on a "committee in the ministry of railways that has been constituted to advise the minister on how to innovatively usher in reforms in the railways".

Kulkarni, who was aide to senior BJP leader L.K. Advani and also adviser to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, categorically said: "I am not joining any political party."

"I am only a member of this committee in the ministry of railways in which there are several other members; its chairman is Amit Mitra of FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry)," Kulkarni told IANS.

Banerjee had announced in her budget speech in the Lok Sabha last month that a committee comprising experts would be formed to revamp and improve the efficiency of the Indian Railways -- the second largest railroad network in the world under a single management.