Trinamool; No roll-back, no pullout

After two days of hue and cry over rise in petrol prices, the issue died out on Tuesday after petroleum minister S Jaipal Reddy convinced prime minster Manmohan Singh of the necessity for the hike.

The issue rocked the UPA government after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) threatened to pull out of the government if the prices were not rolled back.

According to sources, Reddy justified the hike in petrol prices citing rising under-recoveries of the oil marketing companies. After the briefing by Reddy, it was almost sure that there would be no reversal of the decision by the government. And it became clear after Manmohan Singh’s meeting with the Trinamool MPs.
The prime minister had at the recently concluded G-20 summit ruled out any roll back in the petrol prices citing fiscal deficit constraint on the economy.

In the hour-long meeting at the PM’s residence, the Trinamool MPs, led by Sudip Bandyopadhyaya, sounded soft on the latest hike of Rs 1.80 in the petrol prices, as they were more concerned about the lack of communication between the government and its allies.

While the TMC did raise the issue of price rise, there was no threat of pulling out of the government, if the decision was not taken.

“We have explained to him our sentiments and the resolution that we adopted in the last parliamentary party meeting. We also expressed our concerns on petrol price hike and the tremendous difficulty it causes to the poor people,” Bandyopadhyaya said after the meeting.

“If any decision is taken on diesel and LPG price hike, we will not take it easily. We also raised the issue of lack of coordination between the Congress and it allies,” Bandyopadhyaya added.
However, the TMC leaders skirted queries on whether they pitched for roll back of the latest hike in petrol prices.

The oil marketing companies had already made it clear that there would not be any roll back in the prices of petrol.