The Hindu : National : Left seeks cut in LPG, diesel prices

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Thursday, Nov 25, 2004

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National

Left seeks cut in LPG, diesel prices

By Javed M. Ansari

The Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders, Harkishan Singh Surjeet and Sitaram Yechury, coming out of the Prime Minister's residence after the United Progressive Alliance meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI. NOV. 24. The Left parties today asked the Government to reduce the prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas and diesel and restore the 9.5 per cent interest rate on Employees Provident Fund. The demand came this morning at the fourth meeting of the UPA Government-Left Coordination Committee meeting.

The Left parties also brought up the issue of reviewing certain provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003 and proposed amendments to the Patents Act.

Within hours of the meeting, the Government decided to roll back its decision to raise the LPG price by Rs. 5 every month.

Meanwhile, Congress sources said the Government had secured the Left parties' understanding and even an agreement on the issue of foreign direct investment in the telecom and banking sectors. They said the Left's concern on the proposed amendments to the Patents Bill had been addressed. In return, the Government is said to have agreed to their demand for restoring the 9.5 per cent interest on EPF.

Defence ties with Sri Lanka

The Left parties raised the issue of the proposed defence cooperation between India and Sri Lanka and cautioned the Government against doing anything that might have an adverse impact on the country. " We asked them to be very careful given our past experience in the matter," said D. Raja of the CPI.

The need for greater cohesion between the Government and its supporting partners and sorting out matters without rushing to the media were discussed. The Government side reportedly referred to the spate of public statements made in the last few days by some leaders of the Left parties. "This does not create a very good impression," said a senior Minister present at the meeting. The Left parties are reported to have pointed out that they were also answerable to the people and that the Government must be sensitive to their concerns.

Concerns being addressed

Briefing the media after the two-hour breakfast meeting, the Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, and the CPI (M) Polit Bureau member, Sitaram Yechury, said that the concerns raised at the meeting were being looked into but a decision would have to be taken by the appropriate committees of the Union Cabinet.

According to Mr. Chidambaram, the two sides also discussed a road map to implement the notification on FDI in private banks and the proposed amendments to the Patents Act. Mr Chidambaram said the Government had received a note from the Left parties on FDI in the telecom sector and had completed the discussions on the issue.

On the issue of pension reforms, he said the Cabinet had already decided to set up a separate regulator for the sector and a Bill would be brought up in the coming session of Parliament. Asked about the entry of foreign investors in pension, he said: "Let the regulator be in place first and then the Government will think about it."

Referring to the proposed amendments to the Patents Act, Mr. Yechury said the Left parties had expressed fears that the drug prices would soar once the new product patent regime comes into force from next January. "We have asked the Government to safeguard the national interest and people's interest," he said.

Apart from the Prime Minister, others who were present at the meeting were the UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, the Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, and Ahmad Patel, political secretary to the Congress president.

Prominent among the Left leaders who attended the meeting were Harkishan Singh Surjeet and Mr. Yechury (CPI-M), A.B. Bardhan and D. Raja (CPI), Abani Roy (RSP) and Debarata Biswas (Forward Bloc).

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