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Allies declare war on Cong
PM justifies fuel hike, Mamata warns pullout
The allies launched a broadside against the Congress-led UPA Government on petrol price rise on Friday, but ignoring their protest Prime Minister Manmohan Singh backed the controversial decision. The stand-off has posed the worst ever ‘survival’ crisis for the UPA-II. Compounding Manmohan Singh’s woes, the Congress has expressed concerns over rising inflation and favoured a partial rollback of the petrol price hike.
Leading the allies’ revolt was West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who spewed venom on the Central Government and said her party would pull out of the Cabinet if the Congress continued to function arbitrarily hiking petroleum prices. She also politely reminded the Congress that Trinamool Congress did not need the Congress support to keep the State Government afloat.
With 18 MPs, the Trinamool Congress is the biggest partner of the UPA. The DMK, the Nationalist Congress Party and National Conference have also come out against the Government decision to increase the petrol prices.
The Trinamool chief has been repeatedly “ignored and humiliated” on vital issues like price hike. Her remarks suggested that she was making circuitous references to many other issues where she was ignored by the Centre in the past.
“We have been paying a huge price for being in the coalition. We have been repeatedly ignored. We have digested all that humiliation for the sake of coalition politics. But this cannot go on. This time also they did not consult us before hiking the petrol price,” she complained.
But unfazed by ally Trinamool’s threat of even withdrawing support, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh virtually justified the hike in petrol prices, saying there should be further movement towards deregulation of fuel prices.
Addressing a Press conference after the G-20 Summit at Cannes, he said the market should be allowed to follow its level. “Well that is the general direction in which we should move. I think the move to decontrol the prices is a part of that process.
“But as I said, these are very sensitive areas and I have no hesitation in saying ultimately we must allow the markets to find their own level except for those commodities which are semi public goods,” Singh said.
“So, the direction of change is clear. We must move in the direction of decontrolling more prices,” the Prime Minister added.
The PM’s statement came just after Mamata told the Press that Trinamool parliamentary party and its Ministers had unanimously decided to pull out of the Cabinet and passed a related resolution. “But I have restrained them and asked them to wait till the Prime Minister comes back from his tour. We will hold talks with him perhaps around November 8-9 or 10 before taking any decision,” she said.
Demanding an end to the trend of ignoring the allies, Mamata said, “The Congress is the biggest party. But it must understand that it is in the Government because of the coalition partners who have to be honoured.”
The Trinamool chief called an emergency meeting of her party MPs and Ministers did not demand a rollback which she said was “not the solution.” Rather she said that “a system should fall in place that such situation does not arise in the future.”
Congress allies, the NCP and the NC, said the repeated hike in petrol prices burdened the common man and they would raise the issue within the Government.
“In the next Cabinet meeting there will be a debate on it,” New and Renewable Energy Minister and National Conference President Farooq Abdullah told reporters.
Sharad Pawar’s NCP wanted the government to devise some mechanism to keep the fuel prices in check.
“We are very much concerned. The Government should devise some mechanism to check frequent hike in petrol prices,” NCP General Secretary Tariq Anwar said.
Another key UPA partner, DMK also opposed the petrol price hike, saying it was “not at all satisfied” with the increase which was “untimely.”
“We are not at all satisfied with the hike. It was untimely. Frequent increase in petroleum products is not fair,” DMK Parliamentary Party leader in the Lok Sabha TR Baalu said. He said when the food inflation was already high, increasing the prices of petroleum products was “definitely a burden on the common man.”
Baalu said his party would raise the issue in the Winter Session of Parliament beginning on November 22 and demand its roll back. “We have to ensure that people do not suffer.”
Even as allies mounted pressure, Congress sources indicated that a “partial rollback” of the hike could happen in the next few days after Manmohan Singh’s return from G-20 summit in France.
A senior party leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the allies would be consulted after Prime Minister’s return.
Taking a politically correct stand, the Congress indicated that it was unhappy with the government’s performance over the issue of inflation and hinted that there could be partial roll back of petrol price hike. Though pointing out that Administrative Price Mechanism was introduced during NDA regime, it wanted the Government to explain what steps were taken to correct the path
The Congress feels that allies are vociferously opposing the petrol price hike to safeguard their own political space and pointed out that they were all part of the collective decision to decontrol the petrol prices. While criticizing BJP for suggesting that people should not to pay taxes to protest against price hike for playing games and adding fuel to fire, Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi chose to term Mamata’s threat as “genuine concern” and “not divisive remark” and assured that every element of the coalition will be heard with sensitivity, understanding and compassion.
At a hurriedly called press conference, Indian Oil Corporation ( IOC) Chairman R S Butola said the Government had freed petrol prices in June last year and empowered oil companies to decide the retail rates, but given the ownership structure the PSUs we will abide by the Government directive to rollback prices.
PM justifies fuel hike, Mamata warns pullout
The allies launched a broadside against the Congress-led UPA Government on petrol price rise on Friday, but ignoring their protest Prime Minister Manmohan Singh backed the controversial decision. The stand-off has posed the worst ever ‘survival’ crisis for the UPA-II. Compounding Manmohan Singh’s woes, the Congress has expressed concerns over rising inflation and favoured a partial rollback of the petrol price hike.
Leading the allies’ revolt was West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who spewed venom on the Central Government and said her party would pull out of the Cabinet if the Congress continued to function arbitrarily hiking petroleum prices. She also politely reminded the Congress that Trinamool Congress did not need the Congress support to keep the State Government afloat.
With 18 MPs, the Trinamool Congress is the biggest partner of the UPA. The DMK, the Nationalist Congress Party and National Conference have also come out against the Government decision to increase the petrol prices.
The Trinamool chief has been repeatedly “ignored and humiliated” on vital issues like price hike. Her remarks suggested that she was making circuitous references to many other issues where she was ignored by the Centre in the past.
“We have been paying a huge price for being in the coalition. We have been repeatedly ignored. We have digested all that humiliation for the sake of coalition politics. But this cannot go on. This time also they did not consult us before hiking the petrol price,” she complained.
But unfazed by ally Trinamool’s threat of even withdrawing support, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh virtually justified the hike in petrol prices, saying there should be further movement towards deregulation of fuel prices.
Addressing a Press conference after the G-20 Summit at Cannes, he said the market should be allowed to follow its level. “Well that is the general direction in which we should move. I think the move to decontrol the prices is a part of that process.
“But as I said, these are very sensitive areas and I have no hesitation in saying ultimately we must allow the markets to find their own level except for those commodities which are semi public goods,” Singh said.
“So, the direction of change is clear. We must move in the direction of decontrolling more prices,” the Prime Minister added.
The PM’s statement came just after Mamata told the Press that Trinamool parliamentary party and its Ministers had unanimously decided to pull out of the Cabinet and passed a related resolution. “But I have restrained them and asked them to wait till the Prime Minister comes back from his tour. We will hold talks with him perhaps around November 8-9 or 10 before taking any decision,” she said.
Demanding an end to the trend of ignoring the allies, Mamata said, “The Congress is the biggest party. But it must understand that it is in the Government because of the coalition partners who have to be honoured.”
The Trinamool chief called an emergency meeting of her party MPs and Ministers did not demand a rollback which she said was “not the solution.” Rather she said that “a system should fall in place that such situation does not arise in the future.”
Congress allies, the NCP and the NC, said the repeated hike in petrol prices burdened the common man and they would raise the issue within the Government.
“In the next Cabinet meeting there will be a debate on it,” New and Renewable Energy Minister and National Conference President Farooq Abdullah told reporters.
Sharad Pawar’s NCP wanted the government to devise some mechanism to keep the fuel prices in check.
“We are very much concerned. The Government should devise some mechanism to check frequent hike in petrol prices,” NCP General Secretary Tariq Anwar said.
Another key UPA partner, DMK also opposed the petrol price hike, saying it was “not at all satisfied” with the increase which was “untimely.”
“We are not at all satisfied with the hike. It was untimely. Frequent increase in petroleum products is not fair,” DMK Parliamentary Party leader in the Lok Sabha TR Baalu said. He said when the food inflation was already high, increasing the prices of petroleum products was “definitely a burden on the common man.”
Baalu said his party would raise the issue in the Winter Session of Parliament beginning on November 22 and demand its roll back. “We have to ensure that people do not suffer.”
Even as allies mounted pressure, Congress sources indicated that a “partial rollback” of the hike could happen in the next few days after Manmohan Singh’s return from G-20 summit in France.
A senior party leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the allies would be consulted after Prime Minister’s return.
Taking a politically correct stand, the Congress indicated that it was unhappy with the government’s performance over the issue of inflation and hinted that there could be partial roll back of petrol price hike. Though pointing out that Administrative Price Mechanism was introduced during NDA regime, it wanted the Government to explain what steps were taken to correct the path
The Congress feels that allies are vociferously opposing the petrol price hike to safeguard their own political space and pointed out that they were all part of the collective decision to decontrol the petrol prices. While criticizing BJP for suggesting that people should not to pay taxes to protest against price hike for playing games and adding fuel to fire, Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi chose to term Mamata’s threat as “genuine concern” and “not divisive remark” and assured that every element of the coalition will be heard with sensitivity, understanding and compassion.
At a hurriedly called press conference, Indian Oil Corporation ( IOC) Chairman R S Butola said the Government had freed petrol prices in June last year and empowered oil companies to decide the retail rates, but given the ownership structure the PSUs we will abide by the Government directive to rollback prices.
