Ally trouble for UPA, DMK will not attend meeting on fuel subsidies

New Delhi: The UPA government is taking some tough decisions, it has been slammed by the Opposition and, not unexpectedly, there is ally trouble. The DMK will not attend a meeting of ministers today where a decision is likely on limiting the number of subsidised LPG cylinders that a tax-paying household uses.

The Congress' southern ally is upset with the dual pricing mechanism proposal for LPG cylinders and, sources said, was also unhappy that it was consulted on yesterday's petrol price hike.

Only yesterday petrol prices were hiked for the third time this year, by Rs.3.14 a litre.

MK Alagiri, a Union minister and DMK chief M Karunanidhi's older son, is a member of the empowered group of ministers (eGOM) that will meet today, but will not attend, sources said. The meeting will be chaired by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The DMK, which has not had the most bonhomous relationship with the Congress all of this year, has immediate political compulsions. The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu is expected to announce panchayat elections and the DMK is afraid that tough fiscal decisions by a central government that it is a part of, will affect its chances adversely. It has already suffered a humiliating rout in this year's Assembly elections.

Mr Karunanidhi made it clear yesterday that the DMK would fight local elections in the state alone and not in alliance with the Congress, though he emphatically stated that the alliance at the national level continued.

The DMK chief has not tried to hide his unhappiness with the Congress over his daughter and party Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi's incarceration in the 2G scam, though he has invariably stopped short of breaking ties at the Centre.

Like the DMK, another UPA ally, the Trinamool Congress, is upset that it was not consulted about the petrol price hike. Trinamool general secretary and union Minister of State for Shipping, Mukul Roy, said in Kolkata, "We are unhappy over the way the petrol prices were raised. Despite being a partner in the central government, we were not consulted. We don't know anything about the decision."

The Trinamool Congress is the second largest constituent of the UPA after the Congress.

Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), however, had a more supportive view. "The petrol price hike was a decision of the oil companies, not of the government, said Tariq Anwar, a senior NCP leader. Mr Anwar said his party would support the government on any decision it took on LPG cylinders too. "We are in the government; Whatever the government's stand is, we are with them, he said."


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