Price rise to dominate Cong, Left meets today

Rise in the prices of essential commodities is set to dominate the political discourse on Tuesday, with both the Congress and the Left parties holding separate meetings to discuss this issue.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi will hold a meeting with AICC general secretaries in charge of different states tomorrow to get their feedback on this issue a day ahead of her meeting with chief ministers of the party-ruled states.

The four Left parties will also meet on Tuesday to discuss contentious issues like price rise and disinvestment and to formulate their future strategy vis-a-vis the UPA regime.

At the Congress Working Committee meeting last Friday, senior party leaders had asked the government to "do more" to control the prices, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram explained the reasons for price rise and the steps being taken to tackle it.

A party general secretary today pointed out that even as the UPA regime was taking a host of measures like imports to control prices, there were some 'faults' in the system that needed to be rectified. "For instance, when tomato was selling at Rs 40 per kg in Delhi, it was selling at Rs 2 per kg in Aurangabad. We have to see why it is happening and what can be done about it," he said.

With Punjab, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh going for Assembly elections early next year, the ruling party is very concerned about the electoral implications of price rise. The Congress camp is even more worried because of the Left allies' eagerness to play the role of an Opposition party on this front.

The issue of price rise is also set to figure prominently in the Left meeting tomorrow, although no agenda had been fixed till Monday evening.