Left fuels another roll-back call

NEW DELHI: Angry Left leaders, who sent out a firm “stop sermonising” message to the prime ministerial establishment, on Tuesday asserted that they will force at least a partial rollback of the hike in the prices of petrol and diesel.

The Left leader’s project got political muscle when important leaders of the UPA like Lalu Prasad Yadav gave qualified backing for the demand for a relook at the price hike. SP, RLD, TDP and AGP have pledged their support for the Left-sponsored agitation on the fuel price hike.

The Left leaders announced that they would observe a protest day on June 13. The protest coincides with the call given by central trade unions last night against increase in prices of petro products. Dubbing the hike as “unjustified” and “arbitrary”, the Left is maintaining that there should be a complete reversal of the cabinet decision.

A section of the Congress is putting the blame for the current high decibel attack on the prime minister’s secretariat, which had yesterday claimed that Mr Manmohan Singh would soon sent out an “enough is enough” message to the Left. There is realisation in the party that attempts at image makeover on the part of the Prime Minister can succeed only if he has the backing of the various components of the alliance.

The PM’s men chose a wrong day and politically incorerct issues for the image makeover exercise. Just an hour before the Cabinet announced a hike in the prices of petro goods, the PM’s men were engaged in disseminating the message that Mr Singh was getting ready to take tough decisions and that he will not put up with interference from recalcitrant allies in the Left.

They went to the extent of claiming that there could be action on contentious issues like pension reform and banking amendment bill. Both are money bills and no forward movement can be possible without the support of the Left.

Incidentally, at this point, barely two kilometers away at the AICC headquarters, Congress leaders were being summoned for a stock taking session. The agenda: fuel price hike.

Senior party leaders, who participated in the deliberations were of the view that the hike announced by the government will hurt the common man and that it should be substantially rolled back. The meeting also directed the party spokesman to tell the media that the party is not comfortable with the hike. This threw sand in the gears of the prime ministerial secretariat.

That the “tough talk” of the prime ministerial establishment was not just in conformity with the thinking in the Congress establishment was evident in the Congress president’s interaction with DMK chief M Karunanidhi.

Ms Sonia Gandhi demonstrated that she valued the support of allies when she chose to ignore the demands of her own partymen for a place in the DMK government. At the meeting with M Karunandhi, the Congress president did not raise the issue of her party’s participation in the Tamil Nadu government.