Lack of consensus hurting growth: PM

PM for talks with allies to resolve differences

Although the Congress Working Committee (CWC) awarded itself a pat on the back for successfully completing one year in the government with special mention of the role played by "Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in galvanising all democratic and secular forces against the BJP-led coalition that led to the formation of the UPA government", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh admitted in his presentation that running a coalition was not easy.

The Prime Minister told the CWC that resource generation for employment and infrastructure was crucial.

"For this purpose, if there are ideological differences, we require to discuss these issues with our allies," Singh said at the meeting, the first admission that crucial economic decisions were being held up for want of a political consensus.

For the record, both Gandhi and Singh were all praise for each other, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) members, ministerial colleagues and the common minimum programme, which will be reviewed on May 22 at Vigyan Bhavan in the form of a sectoral report card.

But the fact that some allies are deeply unhappy with the Congress""Lalu Prasad is sulking at the repeated snubs handed out to him by the Congress, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) that has opened talks with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Left parties that routinely criticise the working of the party""formed an uneasy background for the CWC.

Members of the CWC had grouses of their own. They complained that ministers visited regions without bothering to meet Congress workers. Gandhi made it a point to refer to this and told the CWC that ministers must take the party into consideration when taking decisions or planning trips.

From the trend and tenor of the speeches, it was clear that the Congress was harking back to its traditional base. Members spoke of difficulties of SCs and STs, women, landless labour, powerloom and handloom weavers and newly added to the list, the Other Backward Classes. As sops to minorities, CWC members rais-ed the issue of pending POTA cases and sought their review.

PM gives 6/10 to his govt

As his government completes one year in office, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today gave six out of ten to its performance, but said he was not satisfied with it and emphasised the need for reform of the government, the political system and the judiciary.

"I am not satisfied with what we have been able to do in terms of implementing new policy initiatives," he said in a frank appraisal of his government's working at the CWC meeting.

He said a journalist had recently asked what score he would give to himself and his government. "I said 6/10. For some, this may seem a reasonable marks to get, but I have never been satisfied with a 60 per cent," Singh said.