- The party feels that Manmohan Singh must factor in the aam aadmi's concerns when it comes to issues like fuel price hike
- The move to oppose the hike had the approval of Sonia Gandhi
- The Congress party is critical of the government's pro-rich focus
- While the PM wants to be assertive, the party wants him to take it into confidence before key decisions
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Petroleum ministry sources confirmed Sonia had "advised" that kerosene and LPG not be touched, and prices of petrol and diesel be increased only nominally—by Rs 3 and by Re 1. But the finance ministry dismissed this as a joke, given that petrol and diesel need to be increased by Rs 10 a litre, a gas cylinder by Rs 115 and kerosene by Rs 17 a litre. The petroleum ministry prepared ads to explain the decision even before the cabinet met, stressing that consumers would bear only 16 per cent of the burden.
In the end, on June 5, shortly after the cabinet decision, top Congress functionaries went into a huddle. They included Sonia's political secretary Ahmed Patel, party treasurer Motilal Vora, general secretary Janardan Dwivedi and, Oscar Fernandes, who doubles as Union minister without portfolio and CWC member in charge of the Northeast and frontal outfits. After talking to Sonia, the line was finalised: the party would "oppose" the decision and "appeal" to the government to roll back. "The aam aadmi had to be kept in the frame. Besides, party members are the government's eyes and ears," a party functionary said. So that was it.
Publicly, both government and party are now putting a brave face on the issue: Deora told Outlook: "The PM and Mrs Gandhi are in total harmony," adding, "We are a vibrant party. Ourparty colleagues have every right to say the price rise is steep. From one point of view, this is correct; others may argue it is too little to cover the entire Rs 73,500-crore gap." A key Congress general secretary said: "In a solely Congress regime, criticism wouldn't have been right. But this is a coalition—our allies were attacking the decision, so what is wrong if we do so too?"
There is also an attempt to look for a fall guy for the embarrassment. Some ministers are pointing at Deora, others are stressing that a party without a functioning media chairperson is bound to falter. No one has yet been appointed in place of Ambika Soni, who is now a Union minister for tourism and culture. And, there are murmurs, once again, of a lack of decent political management for difficult government decisions. This, many feel, is caused by the rigid separation of powers between the PM and the Congress president.
Whatever be the explanation, clearly, this time around the Lakshman rekha has been breached.
