In the Rajya Sabha, UPA ally, namely the SP, members too joined Derek O’Brien (Trinamul Congress) when he raised the issue of the recent hike in petrol prices as soon as the House met for the day. Even as Chairman Hamid Ansari ruled that the matter cannot be raised during Question Hour, members from the BJP, Left, JD(U) and AIADMK joined the protest. Minister of state for parliamentary affairs Rajiv Shukla’s assertion that the government was ready for a discussion did not pacify the Opposition.
When the House re-assembled after a 10-minute adjournment, Mr Shukla reiterated the stand of the government. But as the Opposition members were unrelenting, Dr Ansari adjourned the House till noon. At noon, Naresh Aggarwal (SP) raised a point of order saying that any policy announcement by the government should be made in the House and not outside. He said, “The Chair has given ruling many a time that a minister should not make any announcement outside Parliament when the Session is on. This is an insult of the House. The government announced outside Parliament that petrol prices have been raised.” Mr Shukla’s contention that the oil companies were free to raise the prices are de-regulated did not cut ice with the Opposition benches. At this point, the House was adjourned till 2 pm. When the Upper House re-assembled in the afternoon, deputy-Speaker P.J. Kurien was forced to adjourn the House till 3 pm as members from the BJP, SP, TMC and AIADMK demanded the rollback of the petro-price hike.
Amidst pandemonium, Railway minister P.K. Bansal laid the Supplementary Demands for Grants (Railways) 2012-13 and Demand for Excess Grants (Railways) 2010-11.
The government had de-regulated petrol prices in June 2010 giving oil-companies the freedom to revise pump rates in line with the cost of production. The oil PSUs had cited the spurt in international oil prices and the rupee depreciation as reasons for the increase in petrol prices, while effecting the hike of `1.40 on Friday.