The war of words between the Congress and its ally, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which broke out on Wednesday is a manifestation of the cracks that have appeared within the alliance, especially on the matter of who gets the blame for galloping prices.

A day after Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said the government?s hands were tied on controlling prices because of coalition politics, the ruling UPA?s internal politics over the issue of inflation, ahead of the impending Cabinet reshuffle, turned ugly. At a press conference on Wednesday, UPA partner NCP cautioned the Congress against being ?arrogant? and advised it to take inspiration from coalition governments across the world, especially Italy.

Reminding the ruling party of the ?coalition dharma?, it said dealing with issues challenging the government was the collective responsibility of the Cabinet.

What may hurt the Congress more, however, is the swipe the Sharad Pawar-led party?originally founded on the foreign origin issue involving Sonia Gandhi? took at the Congress president.

The NCP reminded the Congress of the existence of coalition governments across the world. ?The popular verdict of the 2004 and 2009 general elections was a direction by the electorate to follow the coalition course and not collision course. Sixty-five democracies across the world are being governed by coalition governments, 32 of them in Europe alone. Look from Sweden to Switzerland to Italy. I am emphasising Italy,? NCP spokesperson DP Tripathi said. He advised the Congress to ?take lessons? from the Bihar results. ?There is no chance of single-party rule in the near future… They (Congress leaders) should not utter in such a fashion that demonstrates arrogance… Italy has witnessed a coalition government for the past few years, at least they should draw inspiration from there.?

Not surprisingly, his remarks drew instant response, with Tripathi getting a call from Sonia?s political secretary Ahmed Patel. Later in the day, senior NCP leader Praful Patel tried to distance the party from Tripathi?s remarks, calling them his personal view.

?We are with the UPA and will remain with it. Rahul did not say anything about Pawar and there is no point distorting the Congress leader?s statement,? the Union civil aviation minister said.

Even in Tuesday?s meeting on price rise chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, there was a sharp exchange of words between Sharad Pawar and home minister P Chidambaram.

Pawar?s pointed reference to the absence of commerce minister Anand Sharma painted a very conflicted picture of the government. Chidambaram reportedly tried to put Pawar on the mat over the question of sugar exports. Pawar on his part appeared annoyed that he was not kept in the loop by either commerce minister Anand Sharma or external affairs minister SM Krishna on the status of India?s negotiations with Pakistan for the import of onions.

He also referred to Sharma?s absence from the meeting considering the fact that the government is mulling an export ban on several essential food items like milk powder, dairy products and eggs and also the decision to be taken on the continuation of a ban on export of premium non basmati rice.

Quite clearly, on the question of price rise, there are two camps in the government. The NCP camp that believes that price rise is something which can be controlled by a combination of fiscal and supply side measures coupled with global prices being stable, and the Congress on the other side, which feels that supply side augmentation is being routinely mismanaged.