Sonia gets shield, Manmohan flak

NEW DELHI: Even as the UPA government faces a sharp and sustained attack on price rise from the BJP, Left and other coalition allies, government managers are discreetly trying to insulate Congress president Ms Sonia Gandhi from public discontent over the issue.

The decision to cut petrol and diesel prices, for instance, is publicly being attributed to 10 Janpath. Petroleum minister Murli Deora met Ms Gandhi on 14 February to clear the decision with her.

After announcing the cut in petroleum prices on Thursday, Mr Deora said, “it was Ms Sonia Gandhi’s commitment that the June 2006 hike of Rs 4/lt in petrol and Rs 2/lt in diesel would be rolled back when international prices fall.”

The official release from the petroleum ministry confirmed that Mr Deora also met Ms Gandhi (in addition to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh) before the decision to cut prices was taken. “Shri Murli Deora also met the chairperson of UPA Smt Sonia Gandhi and apprised her of the prevailing international oil situation.

Smt Sonia Gandhi reiterated the UPA government’s commitment to protect the interests of the common man, especially weaker sections, from the impact of high international oil prices,” the release said.

The Congress move to shield Ms Gandhi from the criticism on the price rise question — which has emerged as the party’s biggest worry right in the thick of elections — has placed the prime minister and his establishment directly in the line of fire.

Given the clear demarcation between 10 Janpath and the PMO cultivated assiduously by the Congress, not just the BJP but even allies and supporters of the government have taken to hitting out at the Manmohan Singh-Chidambaram duo for mismanagement of the price situation.

The CPM, in the editorial of its mouthpiece People’s Democracy, said that the government was “mesmerised” by its own talk of 9% GDP growth — clearly a reference to the FM and the PM. General secretary Prakash Karat warned that the price-rise situation would affect the Congress electorally in Punjab and Uttarakhand.

“The die-hard neo-liberal policy makers in the UPA government will have to come to grips with reality soon,” Mr Karat said in the editorial. The editorial also added that despite all the arguments being put forth by the government to justify price rise, it would have to accept responsibility for its “gross failure”.

The CPI central secretariat, for its part, said “the administration remained a mute spectator” to the price rise. “While this belated cut is welcome, it is not likely to curb inflation to any appreciable extent,” a CPI statement said.

While the attempt to keep Ms Gandhi from being targeted for inflation might be working to the extent that all the blame is being laid on the prime minister’s doorstep, it also gives the Opposition more ammunition for its “weak PM” campaign.