Hoping to gain political mileage from the proposed cut in prices of cooking gas LPG,petrol and diesel,the UPA government is learnt to have opted to defer the reductions for a later date,little before it suggests the dates for general elections. Sources said the note for the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs was readied on Tuesday but was not circulated for want of a direction from the Prime Minister. Word came late last night that the proposal be withheld as a section in the Congress party was of the opinion that the political gains of lowering the prices probably the last before polls are announced would get diluted and not translate into votes. The signal for the price cut has to come from the PM, said Petroleum Ministry sources. The Congress is in favour of polls from mid-April due to which the code of conduct would become applicable from mid-March. The Ministrys official stand was that the price cuts were not slated for todays CCPA even though officials confirmed that the note had been prepared,suggesting Rs 5 per litre reduction in petrol,Rs 2 a litre in diesel and Rs 25 per LPG cylinder,with the first option being lifting pricing control over auto fuels. They maintained that the inter-ministerial panel headed by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman MS Ahluwalia had not yet completed examining the price decontrol option. Sources said that the initial view was to go ahead with the ad-hoc price cuts leaving a decision on pricing decontrol for a later date. Last week,Petroleum Minister Murli Deora had said that he had held talks with the Prime Minister and a price cut was likely within a fortnight.
