Within minutes of the walkout in the Lok Sabha on Friday over the budgetary proposal to hike fuel prices, the Congress was back to number crunching as the ruling combine was down to 276 votes in its favour; just four more than the 272 needed to stay in office.
Though the government had anticipated trouble over the fuel price restructuring, the decision of supporting parties such as the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to stage a walkout along with the Opposition has deprived the Congress of the comfort zone it enjoyed in the Lok Sabha.
The three parties together account for 47 members in the Lok Sabha and had sent their unsolicited letters of support for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) after the 2009 Lok Sabha election results were declared.
While the Congress is not dependent on these three parties for survival, party seniors said it remained to be seen if the BSP, the SP and the RJD would vote against the Finance Bill. Some Congress leaders dismissed the Opposition walkout as posturing with an eye on the Bihar Assembly elections due later in the year.
But it was clear that the Congress was worried as Parliamentary Affairs Ministers were busy counting their numbers in anticipation of the vote on the Finance Bill even as the Budget Speech was being wrapped up.
Adding to the Congress worries is key ally, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). With municipal elections across West Bengal due in May, the Trinamool has openly criticised the fuel hike, but leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay maintained that the party would work within the UPA to get the fuel hike rolled back. However, this issue has become yet another irritant in the blow-hot-blow-cold relationship that the Trinamool has with the Congress.
Meanwhile, the Congress sought to ride the storm over fuel price hike by challenging its political opponents to absorb the increase by reducing the State excise component in the prices of petroleum products in Opposition-ruled States.
“If the Opposition is as committed to the plight of the common man as it professes, then it is well within their power to reduce the State excise component in the prices of petroleum products in their States,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said in response to the Opposition walkout during Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s budget speech.
According to the Congress, the budget was underpinned on four Cs: Consolidation of recovery, Cushioning of social vulnerability, Creation of infrastructure and Collection of revenue. Off the record, Congress leaders and Ministers said the priority this time round was fiscal consolidation.
