[1]Mamata Banerjee
After slamming the Centre for the steep hike in petrol price, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee today hit the streets in Kolkata leading a massive protest march to put pressure on the UPA government for roll back.
Ms Banerjee, who was accompanied by railway minister Mukul Roy, party functionaries and thousands of Trinamul Congress workers, marched from Jadavpur to Hazra crossing, a distance of 5 km in south Kolkata.
This was the first time that Ms Banerjee, the Trinamul Congress chief, hit the streets as chief minister to protest the Centre's decision.
Trinamul Congress workers carried posters demanding that the hike in petrol price be rolled back.
Ms Banerjee has expressed strong displeasure against the "unilateral and unjust decision" by the Centre and demanded its rollback as it was unacceptable.
"It is unjust, unilateral and not right. We cannot support a decision which will put a huge additional burden on the common man. It is unacceptable," she said shortly after the petrol price hike was announced on Wednesday.
Trinamul's ally Congress, meanwhile, urged the state government to consider a partial reduction in taxes on petrol in the state to provide some relief to consumers affected by the hike in price.
Attributing the petrol price hike to the steep fall in rupee and international crude price, the ally also appealed to the Centre to take suitable measures to stabilise the rupee and review the petrol price to explore the possibility of lowering it as done earlier.
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