Though the government has so far ruled out a rollback, the demand made by two of its principal allies cannot be easily ignored.
The government’s allies, the DMK and the Trinamool Congress, have joined the chorus for a rollback of the hike in petrol and diesel prices.
A day after the opposition took the unprecedented step of staging a walk-out during finance minister Pranab Mukerjee’s budget speech, Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi wrote to prime minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, requesting them to withdraw the hike “at least in the price of diesel to protect farmers and the common man”.
Karunanidhi’s missive came amidst reports of a similar demand made by the Trinamool Congress. “You are fully aware that the Centre and the states are grappling with high food inflation; any increase in the price of diesel will have a cascading effect on food prices,” stated the letter from Karunanidhi.
Trinamool Congress too appealed to the government “not to make it into a prestige issue...”
“The government’s image will be enhanced in the eyes of the people if it rolls back the price hike,” said Sudip Bandhopadhya, the Trinamool Congress chief whip.
Though the government has so far ruled out a rollback, the demand made by two of its principal allies cannot be easily ignored. The buzz in political circles is that the government might eventually have to review the issue.
The demand of the allies, significant as it is, has assumed greater importance given the fact that it has been made at a time when the entire opposition as well parties like the SP, BSP and the RJD, who have so far been supporting the Manmohan Singh led dispensation, have threatened to vote against the government when the budget comes before Parliament for approval. The SP, BSP and the RJD together account for 47 MPs in the Lok Sabha and without their support, the tally of the government’s supporters adds up to 276, just four more than the majority figure of 272.
The UPA’s floor managers were confident of weathering the Oppositions storm, with the support of its allies. However the discordant note stuck by the DMK and the Trinamool Congress has punctured some of the confidence.
The DMK has 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha and the Trinamool Congress has 18. Should these two parties even decide to abstain from voting, the Finance Bill will be defeated and the government will have to quit. “This adds a totally new dimension. If they persist and refuse to be persuaded, then we will have to take a hard look at the decision relating to the petroleum price hike,” said a senior minister of the government.
Even without the threat from the DMK and Trinamool Congress, the ruling combine’s political managers were readying themselves to face a fresh bout of muscle-flexing from allies and individual MPs. Now the situation has become a bit more complicated.
“We will now need to indulge small groups and even individual MPs, besides ensuring 100 per cent attendance of all the MPs supporting the government,” said a member of the Congress party’s political management team.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is also miffed with Pranab Mukherjee for imposing a service charge on the railways and removing tax exemption on goods transportation, thus derailing Mamata’s please-all railway budget.
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