New Delhi:
As a political fire rages on over the recent hike in petrol price, the government is feeling the heat, this time from within. With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh firmly backing the rise in petrol prices, a worried Congress - already reeling under attacks over rising prices and a slew of scams - has rung the alarm bell.
State-owned oil companies had, on Friday, increased the price of petrol by Rs 1.82 per litre, the second raise in less than two months. The Congress feels that the Prime Minister's pitch for letting market forces dictate fuel prices - as part of the continuing reforms process - is not doing any good to the party.
"Policies are made for the welfare of the public. If a policy doesn't produce the desired result, it can be revisited. This applies to all policies, not just this one", party spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi today said.
The Congress' intervention is significant coming as it does on the back of a political furore with the Opposition and allies alike, condemning the latest hike and demanding a rollback in prices.
Hence, the party feels that the credit for a change in heart on the part of the government, if at all, can be cornered by it and also send out a positive message to the public.
It is, at the same time, sending out tactical reminders to allies - in this case, the Trinamool Congress, which threatened to pull out of the government over the petrol price hike.
(Read: Mamata issues ultimatum, PM defends hike)A senior minister has told NDTV that Trinamool chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was on the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) that, in June 2010, had decided to decontrol fuel prices. This, seemingly, is an effort to highlight that Ms Banerjee's opposition to the latest petrol price hike - which is in consonance with the government's earlier decision of freeing fuel prices - is a deviation from her party's nod to the deregulation policy.
It has also send out a message to the state governments - ruled both by opposition and allies - that relief can be brought to consumers through reduced taxes and that rollback is not an option.
The Congress' reaction comes on the back of Ms Banerjee's warning of withdrawing support from the Centre not just over the fuel price hike but also in the manner in which it was introduced.
Sensing the unrest, Congress' chief troubleshooter and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee stepped in today and said that the conflict would be resolved at the earliest.
"So far as the oil prices are concerned, I think where I am going, there will be some media, I will explain in little detail, why the oil marketing company had to take this decision and in respect of the other decision of our valued partner Trinamool Congress. I went through the newspaper and media reports, they have stated. They have agreed. They will talk to the PM and I think issue will be resolved," Mr Mukherjee said earlier during the day.
The government is also trying to make the allies see reason over the latest hike. Its logic - if oil companies don't recover losses from an increase in petrol price, the pressure to raise prices of politically-sensitive fuels like diesel, cooking gas and kerosene would mount. This seems to have somewhat tempered the allies' anger.
"We still feel that the government should try, even though it was inevitable", DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan said.
But a softening of stance by the allies may not be enough for a government that is staring at a stormy Winter session in Parliament. The latest fuel price hike will only provide further ammunition to a belligerent Opposition trying to corner the Centre over the twin issues of inflation and corruption.