The finance ministry's proposal to seek compensation by way of cess on income and corporate taxes for any duty reduction on crude oil and motor fuels has put the ball squarely in the court of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and PM Manmohan Singh. With finance minister P Chidambaram's meeting with oil minister Murli Deora ending in a deadlock on Tuesday, the top political leadership will now have to decide how to save the state-owned oil marketing companies from bankruptcy while cushioning consumers against a fresh burden in an electorally crucial season. The issue has not been discussed with the UPA leadership. Senior coalition sources, however, conceded that, given the worsening bottom lines of oil marketing companies, a decision could no longer be avoided. They said that the leadership might take a call in the next four-five days, indicating that no scheme which could inconvenience the consumer