'Govt should have announced the hike earlier'

"The government should have announced the hike and the package on duty cuts so that not only would under recoveries have been better but the public at large could have enjoyed the benefits of duty cuts," he said.

"The fact of the matter is that the government should have been monitoring the prices of these sensitive commodities on a fortnightly basis as was done during NDA rule. I have myself as minister increased prices in one week by 50 paise and when there is a marginal fall, pulled back the hike," he said.

He added that there were certain other long term problems with the government's handling of the matter.

"In the last four years the government has not been aggressive about acquiring oil blocks in other countries. Such a neglect when we import 70 per cent of fuel is inexplicable. In my time we got blocks in Sakhalin I, and Sudan," he said. He also said that the NDA government's policy encouraging sugar producing states to go towards ethanol has not been pursued.