New Delhi, Feb 5 (Inditop.com) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday briefed the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body, about the steps taken by the government to bring down prices of essential commodities and asked chief ministers to streamline the public distribution system.
According to Congress sources, the prime minister also expressed hope that the prices of essential commodities will come down in the next few weeks.
The CWC discussed the price rise with the members giving their suggestions to the government on bringing down prices.
The meeting, which lasted nearly three hours, was attended by senior Congress leaders including the prime minister, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P. Chidambaram. The meeting of the extended working committee was also attended by permanent invitees and Congress chief ministers.
Congress sources said that some members asked the government to take steps to reduce the layers of middlemen that exist between the farmer and consumer. They said that the produce was procured from farmers at a price far less than what is paid by the consumer and there was a need to reduce the layers of middlemen.
Chidambaram told the meeting about the government’s response to regional divisions in Andhra Pradesh on creation of a new state of Telangana. He said the terms of reference of the committee formed on the issue would be finalised shortly.
Sources said that Defence Minister A.K. Antony, who is party incharge of Maharashtra, gave an assessment of the situation in the state in the light of attempts by the Shiv Sena to raise linguistic issues.
They said some members objected to remarks of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar about the possibility of rise in prices of some commodities. They said that such remarks were unwarranted.
Chief ministers of Maharashtra and Puducherry did not come for the meeting due to the visit of party general secretary Rahul Gandhi to their states.
The meeting, which was also attended by permanent invitees to the CWC, was held a day before the conference of chief ministers on price rise called by the prime minister.
Chief ministers of opposition-ruled Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar apart from Uttar Pradesh have been vocal in blaming the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for failing to check rising prices.
