The Hindu : National : CWC meeting will focus on inflation, petroleum prices

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CWC meeting will focus on inflation, petroleum prices

Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI: Inflation and hike in the price of petroleum products are set to dominate the proceedings of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Saturday. With inflation having touched 8.1 per cent, there are concerns in the party that a hike in prices of petroleum products would further fuel inflation and impact the party’s prospects in the coming Assembly elections. The meeting, to be chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, will also dwell at length on the overall political situation, with strategies for the coming Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Delhi. The lessons learnt from the recent poll reverses particularly in Karnataka and Gujarat, the Gujjar agitation and the nuclear deal would also be discussed.

This will be the first meeting of the highest decision-making body of the Congress after the Karnataka elections which saw the Bharatiya Janata Party form its first-ever government in the South. Already Ms. Gandhi has held meetings with her senior party colleagues on the Karnataka debacle. There are demands within the party of fixing responsibility and accountability for poll reverses. Former Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna also reportedly met Ms. Gandhi here on Friday.

While evolving strategies for the Lok Sabha elections next year, the CWC is also likely to discuss organisational reforms. Already there have been several meeting of the Future Challenges Group, with general secretary Rahul Gandhi as a member, on preparing a report on reforms in the organisation.

“We are also upset with rising prices,” Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi, who was besieged with questions on inflation, said here on Friday. “All steps that could be taken, have been taken.”

Allies’ charge

According to him the rise in inflation from 7.82 per cent to 8.1 per cent was a “transient spike” on account of the rise in global crude oil prices. He refuted the Left parties’ charge of not being kept in the loop on the proposed hike in the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG saying, “we deny the charge of lack of consultations.”

However, between the last CWC meeting and now, other Congress allies such as the Nationalist Congress Party have also alleged “lack of consultations” by the Congress with its UPA allies.

On Friday Ms. Gandhi attended a Congress Core Group meeting at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence that discussed the petroleum products price hike issue.

There is serious concern within the party about the fall-out of inflation and rising prices on the chances of the Congress party in future elections despite the government’s flag-ship programmes and a massive loan-waiver scheme for farmers.

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