CWC meet to evolve strategy on price rise

New Delhi, June 28: Concerned at the public outcry over the rising prices of essential commodities, the Congress Working Committee(CWC) is meeting here tomorrow to chalk out a strategy to bring down the prices to give relief to the common man.

The CWC, the highest policy making body of the Congress, will meet at 10 Janpath, official residence of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, at 1700 hrs, party sources said.

The Congress, of late, has been receiving feedback from its various state units and party leaders about the people becoming restive over the spiralling prices of essential commodities.It has been impressing upon the UPA Government the need to take measures to ensure that the prices are brought down from time to time.

The party leadership is concerned that the continued discontent amongst the common man due to the rising prices may damage the party's image of being a champion of the "aam aadmi(common man)" and its slogan of "Congress ka haath aam aadmi ke sath".

The Congress, earlier, had taken the initiative to find a way out of the crisis arising out of the rising prices by directing the state Governments ruled by it to reduce sales tax on petrol to cushion the impact of the hike in petrol price effected by the Union Govenment. Some state Governments, including Maharashtra, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh, took no time to implement the party's directive resulting in petrol prices falling marginally.

Worried over the rising trend of prices as a result of the hike in petrol and deisel prices, the Congress has decided to convene the CWC meeting tomorrow to consider indepth the measures that could be adopted by the Union Government to bring down the prices.

The decision to hold a CWC meeting to discuss exclusively the buring issue of price rise is being viewed as a move not to let the agitating BJP and Left parties to take political advantage of the alleged failure of the Government to arrest the price rise.

UNI

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