New Delhi: With Congress' debacle in four states being attributed to price rise, government today came under fire at the meeting of the extended Congress Working Committee with leaders asking it to get its act together before the Lok Sabha elections.
Government should turn proactive to roll out measures that would benefit the 'aam aadmi' like raising the limit of subsidised LPG cylinders from nine to 12 and eschew from steps like petrol price hike, the Congress leaders said.
PIB
Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily was 'cornered', a member said, adding that leaders insisted that the government should not delay a decision on the issue of LPG cylinders.
Kerala PCC chief Ramesh Chennithala was in the forefront of the attack. "It needs to be pondered whether we are going ahead with liberalisation that has a human face," he is learnt to have said in the meeting.
Chennithala, whose state Kerala is dominated by the Left discourse, opposed FDI in retail. AICC general secretary Madhusudan Mistri, who is close to Rahul Gandhi, also spoke on the need for policies with a pro-poor face. There was also a demand that there is a need to "revisit" the economic policies.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who were present, did not speak in the meeting. After the defeat in the four states, party chief Sonia Gandhi had said that price rise was one of the reasons.
A section in the Congress has been emphasising the need for rolling out more subsidies in petrol and diesel and take other populist measures to change the adverse political atmosphere ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
PTI
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