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Soniaspeak : Inflation factor in poll debacle

	March 12, 2007

The meeting of the Congress parliamentary party on March 6 provided Congress president Sonia Gandhi with the platform to give her first reaction to the party’s defeat in the Punjab and Uttarakhand Assembly elections. She conceded that inflation partly contributed to what she called the “disappointing” results, but also posed tough questions to her party leaders asking them to subjugate individual ambitions to larger party objectives.



Evidently disturbed over losing two incumbent governments in Punjab and Uttarakhand, Sonia Gandhi asked her party colleagues to do some soul-searching to draw lessons from the poor showing.



Apart from the “objective factor like inflation,”, she told the CPP meet - attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, among a slew of top Congress leaders and government functionaries - that “there were other reasons as well”, for the party’s drubbing in the two states. And, then she fired away posers : “We must be candid with ourselves and look inwards to examine why so many sitting MLAs and Ministers failed to retain their seats. What were our shortcomings ? Did we put up the best possible candidates and effort ? Did we fail to work unitedly ? Were we mindful enough of the sensitivities and expectations of different sections of the people ?” These questions, she said, need to be answered and the answers analysed.



The party president, who appeared to share the mainstream feeling in the ruling alliance that the talk of high growth will not bring it any electoral dividend, said the results have once again showed that voters are becoming increasingly impatient. “We must take note of the fact that a deep-rooted change is occurring in the mind and attitude of the electorate. Voices are becoming impatient; they want their lives to improve. They want good and clean governance, employment, prosperity, security, and social justice,” she said.



The statement is also aimed at soothing the frayed nerves of allies. Several UPA allies have begun complaining that the policies pursued by the Government were the reason for the disaffection of voters.



The party president said electoral defeats should not deter the party from following the UPA Government’s declared policies. At the same time, she insisted that the party and by extension the government should be mindful of the concerns of the common man.



The Congress president attempted to shield Finance Minister P. Chidambaram from in house attacks when she said that the budget presented by him showed the UPA Government’s concern for the common man.



Sonia Gandhi also used the occasion to tell her MPs that the forthcoming electoral contests are not just tough, but also crucial. “We need to take appropriate lessons from the defeat in Punjab and Uttarkhand polls and gear up the organization ahead of the Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Gujarat elections.”



Sonia Gandhi who is also at the receiving end of attack from the opposition for the government’s ‘moves’ to bail out Italian middleman Ottavio Quattrocchi, charged the opposition with disrupting the functioning of Parliament.





Cannot pass the buck : BJP tells Sonia Gandhi



Reacting to Sonia Gandhi’s remarks, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani said she is talking about price rise, “as if someone else was responsible” for it. He criticised Sonia Gandhi for what he called shirking responsibility and refusing to take the blame for the Manmohan Singh Government’s poor performance. Addressing BJP workers in New Delhi on March 7, Advani said, “Prices did not rise on their own, but because of the anti-poor policies of the UPA Government.”





Inflation to be reined in : PM



With Sonia Gandhi’s remarks on inflation being one of the factors behind the Congress defeat in the Punjab and Uttarkhand elections, many people in the Congress and UPA have started talking on curbing the price rise. Replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks in Parliament on March 8, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “the Government is determined to curb inflation without affecting the strong growth of the economy.” He attributed the price rise to a demand and supply mismatch situation in essential items. He said that even imports could not tackle the problem because of a global rise in fuel and food prices.



Dr. Manmohan Singh rejected Opposition leader L.K. Advani’s charge that the government had failed in tackling terrorism. He said, “our Government has a better track record than the previous government. We have not had a breakdown of law and order and upsurge of communal violence of the kind we saw in Gujarat.”



In the Rajya Sabha, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram came under attack on Tuesday, March 6, on the issue of price rise and inflation. Members cutting across party lines criticised the food supply management policies of the Government.



Chidambaram rejected the charge of a “disconnect” among the Union Ministries of Finance, Agriculture and Commerce in countering the price rise, and said that he was confident of a moderating effect on the price rise after the new crop comes in. He said the monetary and other policies implemented by the Government will also have their impact after some time.



Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar also faced the anger of Members in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, March 9, on the issue of farmers committing suicides. Pawar tried to convince the House that the Centre was making all efforts to prevent the farmers from taking the extreme step. But Members said that suicides were unabated even after the Prime Minister announced a financial package for the distressed farmers in six districts of Maharashtra. They said the stranglehold of the private money lender remained intact.





Sugar decontrol called off



With the issue of price rise coming to the fore, the Manmohan Singh Government has put off the proposed deregulation of the sugar industry. The objective appears to be not to rock the boat ahead of Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. The Agriculture and Food Ministry withdrew last week its cabinet proposal to phase out Government intervention in the sugar sector which had included giving up the practice of lifting levy sugar at controlled prices.





Bhajan Lal’s MP son suspended from Congress



The Congress at long last woke up to the anti-party activities of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal’s son, Kuldip Bishnoi, Lok Sabha Member from Bhiwani and suspended him from the party for publicly criticising party president Sonia Gandhi. The party also dismissed the allegations made against the party, the state government and party chief as baseless. Bishnoi said later that the action against him showed that the party was no longer with the aam admi (common man), but under the control of a coterie. Observers say that Bishnoi’s suspension may affect Haryana politics in course of time. According to an analyst, “sooner or later, the father-son duo of Bhajan Lal and Bishnoi will launch a regional party.





Another Congress MP under cloud



Another Congress MP M.K. Suba from Assam was in the eye of the storm last week when a TV channel, CNN/IBN, telecast evidence creating doubts about his nationality. The Supreme court is already hearing a case challenging his Indian citizenship. He has been granted time upto April 20 to prove his identity before the court. According to the television channel expose, Suba has been giving different dates and places of birth in different documents.



Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Das Munshi said that no action can be taken against Suba till the Supreme Court disposes off his case.





No going back on SEZs : PM



The Prime Minister has said that there is no going back on the policy to set up special economic zones (SEZs) and incentives offered to such units would not be withdrawn. Speaking in Parliament on March 8, he said, “if certain incentives have to be given, I think, those have to be given.” But he said that a group of ministers headed by Pranab Mukherjee, is going into the issue of SEZs, and if there are any pitfalls in the present policy framework, they would be removed.



Significantly, the Prime Minister’s remarks came a few days after party president Sonia Gandhi focused on alienation of farmers at a meeting of party MPs.



A report says that a proposal being considered is to confine special economic zones to wasteland. However, in states where acquisition of farmland is unavoidable, SEZs would be allowed on the condition that wasteland would be upgraded to cultivable land to ensure food security. The Rural Development Ministry is reported to have drawn up a blueprint, part of a rehabilitation package for land acquisition for SEZs.



In the meantime, the West Bengal Government has finally signed the land lease agreement with Tata Motors for its small car plant at Singur. The land lease is for 90 years. Tata Motors would invest Rs. 1500 crore on the Singur plant. The company plans to manufacture two lakh cars per year at the Singur plant.