The Left leaders were looking crestfallen this afternoon when the UPA government suddenly announced that the LPG price would not go up by Rs 5 per month as had been announced earlier. The announcement though saved the four Left partners more dipression. This morning’s breakfast coordination meeting with the UPA leadership at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Race Course Road residence was not really positive from the Left point of view.Of course, the Left had been forceful in its arguments against the increase in LPG and diesel prices. It was the second issue to be taken up after the Left leaders placed their demand for a thorough review of the National Electricity Policy. Regarding power, the Left stressed the need for having a review mechanism in place. The contentious issue of petroleum products were taken up soon after. The Left made a forceful plea on not enforcing the monthly Rs five per cylinder hike as had been announced by the government. Some leaders said already some dealers were deferring supply towards the end of the month to get the benefit of the hike. The Left think tank members argued that the government could still look into the possibility of doing away or significantly reduce excise duty on petroleum products. They also pointed out that the government’s decision to bring down only the price of petrol had not gone down well with the ordinary people.‘‘It has only kindled hopes that the government could lower the rates if it wanted to,’’ the Left leaders told the PM and Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram.According to Left leaders, neither the PM nor Chidambaram had given them any inkling that the monthly hike proposal on LPG would be withdrawn. Instead, they were told how the government stood to lose a lot of revenue if they had to further subsidise these petroleum products. Left leaders have become used to these ‘‘balance sheet-like explanations’’ over the past few UPA meetings.Obviously, the Left leadership were pleasantly surprised in the evening when petroleum minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar made the announcement regarding LPG. Not just petroleum prices, the Left had wanted the EPF rate restored to 9.5 per cent. The government again explained elaborately how increasing the EPF payment quantum from the current commitment would drain the exchequer and can even hurt prized social sector schemes. Nevertheless, the UPA government did not say categorically that the Left demand would not be met. The Left leaders were told that the ‘‘appropriate committees’’ in the Cabinet would look into them.The Left handed over another set of papers on the Patent Amendment Bill to the government. They had added on substantially to the document they had prepared earlier. The Left were also concerned about the possible non-availability of life-saving drugs and the future of the Indian pharmaceutical companies.
