By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Friday faced verbal assaults from both the opposition and some of its allies over the latest petrol price hike, with the Trinamool accusing the Congress of taking major decisions unilaterally.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left spewed fire, the strong reaction of the Trinamool stunned the Congress, which played down West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s stinging remarks.
The other allies — the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), DMK and National Conference — were subdued in their criticism.
Effective midnight Thursday, the price of petrol was hiked by Rs.1.80 a litre. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee defended the government, saying the decision was not of the government but of the petroleum companies.
The BJP pooh-poohed the argument.
“The companies belong to the government, they control it, so the whole responsibility is on the UPA government, the prime minister and Sonia Gandhi… It could not have been done without their permission,” former finance minister and BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said.
“It is a midnight massacre,” he added. “When food inflation figures are added to it, there is only one conclusion that this government is totally insensitive.”
The Left agreed.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) blamed the government’s deregulation of petrol pricing for the repeated increases in petroleum prices.
The BJP said petrol prices in India were the highest in South Asia.
The Trinamool, the biggest constituent in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) after the Congress, was furious. Its MPs said they wanted to quit the government but Banerjee said she would not take any action without meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Manmohan Singh returns from the G 20 meet at Cannes Saturday.
Banerjee said she was not happy that the Congress was taking major decisions without consulting its allies but did not demand a rollback of the latest announcement.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said he was confident a way will be found to provide relief to people hit hard by the price rise.
“We have faith the government will, at the earliest, most urgently look at the issue and provide whatever relief is possible,” he said.
DMK leader T.R. Baalu asked the government to provide “relief” to fuel consumers.
National Conference leader and Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah said the hike was the result of change in crude oil prices in the international market.
But he warned that the government “needs to be much more careful” before unleashing similar decisions. “This hike is too much.”