NEW DELHI: Indian premier Manmohan Singh is feeling the coalition blues, besides facing in-house flak. With the hike in fuel prices running into a Red wall and Congress chanting the “rollback” mantra, Singh has been left increasingly “impatient” and “frustrated” over policies hitting political roadblocks.
The PM, who was hoping to press the reform pedal with assembly polls out of the way, has been instead confronted with renewed Left opposition. This is quite contrary to the expectation that secure in their Kerala and West Bengal victories, communists would allow some “tough” decisions to go through.
A rollback is not yet on the cards, but an aide to the PM said that Singh is wondering whether UPA partners and supporting parties would ever agree that a government needs to take decisions that cannot always be painless. With larger expenditure elements like expanding higher education to accommodate OBC quotas looming, subsidies had to be pruned.
Besides the fuel hike, banking and pension reforms could also be stymied and this has left Singh feeling quite helpless. Indicative of serious friction with Left on policies, PM has decided to skip his Kolkata trip next week. He will, instead, go directly to Arunachal Pradesh. Even though W.Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said that the PM’s visit would not be put off, Singh remains adamant about making a point. More persuasion may see him change his mind, but government-Left relations are set for a rough patch and it may not be the choreographed thrust and parry of the past.
PMO sources said that it was difficult to understand the Left argument that the fuel hike would hurt the poor. Persons using cars would have to bear the costs as retail prices could not be buffered against the high cost of oil in the international markets. Hemmed in by allies and, now by the Congress itself, the UPA government could face the charge of being “dysfunctional”, it is felt. It was now up to the UPA to collectively take a view whether tasks of governance could be carried out which included decisions to increase revenues.
Congress’ rollback demand is seen in a less serious light, but here too officials stress that the PM has held detailed discussions with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. His party’s opposition, even as he looks to drive policy, will hardly please Singh.—By arrangement with The Times of India
