Ally Mamata, oppn seek complete rollback of petrol price increase

The reduction of Rs 2 in petrol prices on Saturday failed to satisfy key the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) constutuent Trinamool Congress as also the opposition parties which insisted on nothing less than a complete rollback of the steep Rs 7.54 hike effected last week.

Trinamool leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was unhappy with petrol price cut and called for a complete roll back. “I am not happy at the cut in petrol price by Rs 2 per litre. It is not enough. It is still a burden on the common man. There should have been a total roll back of the hike,” she told reporters in Kolkata.

BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy pressed for a “total rollback” and wondered whether the hike of Rs 6 per litre after the partial rollback was “acceptable” UPA allies. He said people of the country are not satisfied with the token roll back and will teach UPA a “lesson in the coming days”.

CPI (M) Polit Bureau said the partial rollback was “unacceptable” and Left parties will continue their agitation for reversal of the price increase. Terming the reduction in petrol prices as “totally inadequate”, CPI National Secretary D Raja demanded the oil companies should go for a “complete roll back” because they had effected “such an outrageously steep hike when international crude prices were declining”. Maintaining that the government’s view that it did not have any role in the price fixation for petrol due to de- regulation was “ridiculous”, Raja said the oil companies have been following the government’s diktats regularly. “Otherwise, why did they not raise the prices when Parliament was in session?”, he said, adding the decision came two days after the nation-wide protests by Left and other parties.