Petrol price : Congress hints at partial rollback
Source: The Sangai Express / Press Trust of India
New Delhi, May 24 2012:
In the backdrop of strong protests by UPA allies and the Opposition over the steep hike in petrol price, Congress today hinted at the possibility of a partial rollback and expressed hope that the government would be able to find a way out to ease the burden on the common man.
"The party is hopeful that some kind of a modus vivendi involving the central government, state government and the oil companies will be arrived at....
We are hopeful that the government would find a way out so that some of this burden is eased which would provide relief to the common man," Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters here.
Tewari insisted that the petrol price hike was not a political decision or one taken by the government as after dismantling of the administered price mechanism (APM), the responsibility of fixing oil prices strictly lay with the oil marketing companies (OMCs) .
He said that the party, however, notwithstanding the facts and economic realities "is extremely sensitive to the burden put on
the common man" .
The Congress leader attacked the BJP over the issue reminding that fuel prices were hiked more than 30 times during the NDA rule.
"People who want to politicise every issue, should look within.
The process to dismantle the APM was initiated by the NDA," Tewari said.
However, a party leader acknowledged that the petrol price hike was "indeed hefty" .
In one of the steepest hikes ever, OMCs hiked petrol prices by over Rs 7.50 per litre yesterday.
Immediately after the hike was announced last night, a number of Congress leaders, speaking on condition of anonymity, had admitted that they are not at ease with the development.
While a section in the party felt that it could lead to a huge blacklash for the ruling party MPs, there was also a view that there was no option to increasing the petrol price at a time when the focus was on economic reforms.
"There is a compulsion.
What to do? Either you sacrifice the economy for immediate gains or all of us share the burden.
There is no other option taking into account the economy worldwide," senior party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Satyavrata Chaturvedi told PTI.
A party MP , however, said that such steep hikes will be damaging for the party and that a number of MPs particularly those from Lok Sabha are "unhappy" with it as they will have a tough time in their constituencies explaining the move.
At the AICC briefing, Tewari also chose to remind that some of the state governments have already taken the lead in rationalising the state taxes on petrol.
"That is indeed a welcome measure.
We do hope that others would also step to the plate," Tewari said.
His remarks came as the Congress-ruled Kerala and Uttarakhand governments today waived tax on the additional amount to bring down the fuel price by up to 25 per cent of the hike.
He added that Congress as a political party is sensitive to the burden on common man and would like that "some way should be found by coordination among Centre, state governments and oil companies so that people's burden can be lessened" .
"This is not the decision of the government.
This is not a political decision.
This falls in the jurisdiction of oil companies," Tewari added.
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