Fuel price hike, a wedge between Congress and govt

The latest hike in petrol prices has brought the aam aadmi driven Congress party into a direct conflict with a free-market loving Manmohan Singh government.

Having abolished the administered price mechanism, Singh is now firm that there shall be no rollback of the hike. A senior functionary in the PMO asserted that the prime minister’s statement on his way back home from the G-20 summit was the last word on the subject.

“Once we have dismantled the administered price mechanism, then if we start interfering with the working of the oil companies, then it has serious implications for the entire economy,” the official observed.

The only concession that the government appeared willing to make was that union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee would explaining the reasons for this hike. He said that he would discuss the issue with the oil companies and then make a statement.

But the conflict stems from the party’s assertions on two counts. Chief spokesperson Janardan Dwivedi said that in view of the people’s concerns the party wants that the government should do everything possible to provide relief to the common man. “Not just this policy of administered prices, but the party feels that all those policies that do not serve the people’s needs should be necessarily revisited,” he said.

Interestingly, both the government and the party dismiss the threats issued by the allies like the Trinamool Congress rather lightly. “These allies have their state specific political compulsions, and we do not see any contradiction in this. They will continue raise these issues, and also be a part of the alliance,” said a senior party functionary.