Trinamul accepts petrol price hike
Bargaining for a financial package for West Bengal, the Trinamul Congress MPs did not press for a rollback of the petrol price hike nor did they raise the issue of its ministers withdrawing from the Union Cabinet during their hour-long meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday.
The PM apparently made it clear to the Trinamul delegation that there would be no rollback of the petrol price hike, sources said. Trinamul chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is in Kolkata, also refrained from carrying out her threat to withdraw her ministers from the Union Cabinet. Instead, playing to her domestic gallery, she warned the Centre that it “will have to bear the consequences” in the event of another hike in prices of petroleum products.
The Trinamul MPs met the PM mainly to raise the issue of the petrol price hike. While her MPs met the PM in New Delhi, Ms Banerjee, along with Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, met the governor in Kolkata to discuss a financial package for Bengal. If her MPs merely “expressed concern over the petrol price hike”, Ms Banerjee played to the gallery, warning the government not to go in for another hike of petroleum product prices. She reportedly did not insist on a rollback after it was conveyed to her that the Centre was in no mood to concede her demand.
The Trinamul Congress, the second-largest constituent of the UPA, has reportedly been mounting pressure on the Centre to release a financial package of `20,000 crore for West Bengal. Emerging from the meeting, Trinamul leader and Union minister Sudip Bandhopadhyay, while saying that the PM “shared our views and concern”, toed his leader’s line by saying that the “Trinamul will not digest easily a further hike in prices of kerosene, diesel and LPG.” He claimed the PM was told that if such a hike took place, then “we have to think what our stand will be”.
As the Trinamul delegation pointed out newspaper reports of another impending hike in prices of petroleum products, the PM said he was “not aware of such decisions”, Mr Bandhop-adhyay said. The delegation also spoke of a lack of coordination among the allies. “PM also agreed that coordination among the allies needs to be impr-oved,” Mr Bandhopadhyay said. However, when asked whether the delegation pressed for a rollback, he remained somewhat vague, saying, “We have submitted a resolution which includes all such things.” The PM also shared the economic condition of the country with the delegation, Mr Bandhopadhyay said.
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