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Allies threaten to pull out on price hike

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre today asserted that the National Democratic Alliance government would have to roll back the prices of foodgrains and urea if it is to continue ruling.

"The government will have to roll back the price hike on urea and PDS [public distribution system] foodgrains if it is to continue ruling. We are determined about it and, in fact, we, the BJP's allies, are going to reiterate our opposition to the matter," the Janata Dal United's deputy leader in Parliament, Devendra Prasad Yadav, told rediff.com

He said, "Eleven allies of the BJP had submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and protested that the price hike had been surreptitiously done without taking them into confidence."

"We have no doubt that this is a betrayal of the interests of the allies and we will not take it lying down. Some BJP leaders might have taken a stance to give the impression that there will be no rollback on the price hike, but just wait for a couple of days and see," Devendra Yadav said.

The standoff between the protesting allies and the BJP seems to have entered an interesting stage with the JD-U deputy leader in Parliament leaving no room for doubt that the non-BJP NDA constituents are in no mood to relent.

"If the government is worried about the budgetary deficit, we have a duty to protect the interests of our voters who have been deeply and adversely affected by the price hike of rice and wheat chanelled through the public distribution system," he underscored.

He pointed out that in his parliamentary constituency Jhanjharpur, he had been beseiged by more than 5,000 farmers on a recent visit. They were very agitated by the urea price hike, saying whatever little monetary gains they earned would be "neutralised" by the government's action on urea.

Similarly, the farmers had expressed their displeasure on the price hike of PDS rice and wheat and warned that the government's action would cost the JD-U considerable votes as the woes of the poor people are increasing instead of being mitigated, he pointed out.

A meeting of the disgruntled BJP allies this morning discussed ways and means to force the government to effect an immediate rollback of the price hike. Leaders like Devendra Yadav, Sudip Bandopadhyay of the Trinamul Congress, and K Yerran Naidu, leader of the Telugu Desam Party in the Lok Sabha, expressed their resolve to continue their agitation and protect the interests of their electorate.

"It is all right for Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha to say that the government is in no position to roll back the price hike. Our question is, why was it done in a conspiratorial manner without taking us into confidence? If we are the allies of the ruling National Democratic Alliance, are we to take lying down unilateral decisions by the BJP," he asked.

What appears to have further agitated the allies is that Prime Minister Vajpayee yesterday indicated to them that it was not possible for the government to roll back the price hikes. He would rather stand by the finance minister's profession of no rollback, he told the allies.

"When we joined the NDA, we were assured by the prime minister and other BJP leaders that the allies would be taken into confidence on every decision," said Bandopadhyay. "Now it seems the BJP is acting like a big brother who could not care less about the coalition partners. This is something we don't relish," he fumed.

The JD-U's Devendra Yadav indicated that instead of reaching any compromise on the issue as some BJP politicians are saying, the allies will step up their campaign against the price hikes.

But a TDP Member of Parliament said Vajpayee had yesterday told the leader of an alliance partner that he had "gone with the allies" when they had opposed the Gujarat government's order allowing its employees to join the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, so it was their turn to "go along with me" and not insist on a rollback.

Senior BJP spokesman and vice-president Jagdish Prasad Mathur reiterated that "on such a sensitive issue, you cannot clap with one hand. Both sides will have to make partial concessions. This is the only way out for an honourable solution."

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