I want to be honest in my views and wish to maintain party discipline. So I decided to come out,' said Kulkarni, who wrote a magazine article criticising the BJP and its ideological fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) after the party's poll debacle. He resigned Sunday.

He, however, maintained that his decision to quit the BJP had nothing to do with the expulsion of Jaswant Singh last week over his book 'Jinnah: India - Partition - Independence'.

On his new assignment, Kulkarni told IANS: '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).'

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.