Congress core groups meets to discuss political, economic concerns

NEW DELHI: Amid indications of a cut in petrol price in next few days, Congress top brass including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi today deliberated on the way ahead as concerns mounted over the state of the economy.

The Prime Minister is understood to have briefed the Core Group about the CBI beginning a preliminary enquiry in connection with alleged irregularities in the utilisation of coal blocks allocated to private companies between 2006 and 2009.

The meeting of the Congress Core Group to discuss current political and economic situation was held as the rupee struggled against Dollar and India's economic growth rate slowed to a nine-year low.

There are indications that a cut in petrol price hike is likely sooner than later as there has been a reduction in the prices of crude oil for the Indian basket.

The almost two-hour-long meeting came ahead of the crucial meeting of the party's apex body Congress Working Committee on June 4, when Gandhi is expected to lay out the road map for Congress for future at a time when the party is jolted by series of defeats in the Assembly and civic bodies polls in various states.

The meeting incidentally happened on a day when the party was hit by a political crisis in Karnataka, which goes to polls next year.

The party has deployed senior leaders to resolve the crisis arising out of the resignation of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Sidharamaiah there.