After Trinamool,DMK seeks fuel hike rollback

In Kolkata,the Trinamool Congress hit the streets,with party leaders announcing state-wide agitation against the price hike and said they were not consulted before the Budget. Though party chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee kept away from the rally,she later told media persons that she had already written to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for a rollback of the petroleum prices. “Common people are already reeling under the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities. The hike in petroleum prices will add to their burden,” she said.

Sudip Bandopadhyay,chief whip of the Trinamool in Parliament,along with Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Partho Chatterjee led the rally through the streets of Kolkata culminating at Metro Channel in Esplanade at the heart of the city.

Bandopadhyay said,“Our party was not informed about any possibility of increasing the price of petrol and diesel. Even though we had categorically made it clear to the Congress leadership that we were against rise of price of petrol and diesel at this critical juncture,the Congress leadership did not bother to give us any clue that they were going to raise the prices and we came to know about this only after the Union Budget was placed on Friday”.

The party chief whip said the Trinamool was part of the government and so could not join the Opposition walkout from Parliament on Friday.

In Chennai,Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M Karunanidhi said the hike in petroleum prices would have a “cascading effect” on food prices at a time when the Centre and states were “grappling with high food inflation”. He sought immediate intervention of Sonia,the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister for a rollback “at least of the price of diesel so as to protect farmers and the common man.”

(With PTI)