Opposition urge roll back of hike in fuel prices

Petrol price increases by Rs 2.71 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.55 per litre from Saturday midnight after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee raised customs and excise duties on the two auto fuels in the Budget.
Prices of petrol and diesel hiked as indirect tax proposals moved as the Budget came into effect immediately.

(live-PR.com) - UPA is under pressure fron its allies DMK and Trinamool Congress have demanded a roll back of hike in petrol and diesel prices. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M. Karunanidhi too has urged the Centre to roll back the hike in prices of at least diesel to protect the interest of farmers and common man.

In letters to the Prime Minister and UPA Chairperson, he said any increase in the price of diesel will have a cascading effect on the food prices and prices of other essential commodities.He pointing out that both the Central and State Governments are grappling with the issue of high food inflation Karunanidhi said, the increase will have far reaching implications. He commended the budget and said it had been presented in keeping with the objectives of the UPA to ensure inclusive growth and overall economic development.

The Trinamul Congress has also demanded a roll-back on the increased prices of Petrol and Diesel. Talking to newsperson in Kolkata today, the Trinamul Congress Supremo and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said, that, she would write letters, with this request to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and the UPA Chairperson Ms. Sonia Gandhi.

Mamata Banerjee on Saturday appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to roll back the price hike in petro products but said she did not want any 'confrontation'.She said, that, her party would demand a discussion on the same issue on the floor of the Parliament in the current session. Ms. Banerjee said that, at present the prices of essential commodities have increased alarmingly and if petroleum prices increase, these prices will go up higher.Trinamool Congress launched street protests in Kolkata to demand immediate rollback of fuel price hike, but remained non-committal on BJP's move to bring cut motions to censure the government. TC's Chief Whip in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandhopadhay led the protests. The party faces civic and municipal polls in West Bengal in May-June.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said he took a risk of facing inflation in raising excise duty across the board for mobilising resources, but expressed confidence that the impact would be absorbed.

The "price hike" of petro products is next issue fuelling inflation, entire opposition Left BJP SP,RJD hold congress reponsible for the rise in price of essential food item thus with its interests converging the opposition is attacking the budget thus the entire opposition converged against UPA.

Arun Jaitley said, "The Budget is devoid of any big picture and it fails to lay down a roadmap for economic recovery.He also criticised the government's attempts to shift the blame for rising prices to the state governments."Eighty-three percent of the raids that have been conducted to prevent hoarding of essential commodities have been in non-UPA states. Only 17 percent of the raids have been conducted in states where the UPA is in power," Jaitley maintained.He said during his speech at Rajya Sabha the government must consider drawing up a single price index to present a truer picture of inflation."We have a wholesale price index and a consumer price index and there is a glaring mismatch between the two. We need a single price index to give a true picture of where inflation truly stands," he contended.

" More critical Yashwant Sinha said BJP MPs would bring cut motions to censure government for its "anti-people" policies. He said Mukherjee had dashed hopes of any relief from price spiral. Sinha argued that "domestic demand and domestic growth have been driving our economy" and that nothing had been done to boost this.