PM may intervene in Gujarat power row

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is likely to intervene in the tussle between the RSS-backed Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over the power tariff hike and financial concessions to farmers.

The BKS launched an agitation after the Modi government's refusal to review the power tariff hike for farmers.

According to officials, the state government raised the power tariff to make the power sector a viable proposition, but the BKS demanded roll-back of the hike.

Sources said the power tariff was hiked after due consultation with the BKS, which had agreed to the move on the condition that the government would give the BKS credit for taking up the farmers' cause by reducing the tariff on its demand.

But the BKS's back-tracking and demand for restoration of the old power tariff in rural areas, seems to have irked Modi.

That the issue has been threatening to snowball into a crisis in the Sangh Parivar became evident as Madan Das, RSS joint general secretary and in-charge of BJP affairs, was rushed to Ahmedabad from Mumbai to mediate between Modi and the BKS.

When the initial rounds of discussion could not bear any fruit, some BKS leaders went on fast. It was only after Union Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley and a group of SJM leaders intervened that the BKS decided to withdraw the agitation. "But the situation is still serious," said one mediator.

Sources in the government said the deal worked out with the BKS envisaged announcement of a package by the Prime Minister to farmers to put an end to the trouble.

Similarly, an independent body will be assigned the job of reviewing and finalising the power tariff for agriculture.