No going back on fuel price hike: Pranab

“Please excuse me”, said Pranab Mukherjee when the opposition pressed for a rollback of the rise in fuel prices on Friday.In a nearly hour-long spirited reply to the criticism that Budget 2010-11 was elitist and had nothing for the aam aadmi, the finance minister said in Lok Sabha, “I would love to respond to the demand for reduction in petrol/diesel prices, but my financial condition does not permit me to do so. Please excuse me. Therefore, I am unable to do so.”Incensed, the opposition led by the BJP walked out.The debate on budget saw several wordy duels between Mukherjee and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha of the BJP. The better part of Mukherjee’s response to the discussion was targeted at issues raised by Sinha. In a point-by-point rebuttal of the former finance minister’s charges that the budget had nothing for the farm sector and was against the interest of the common man, he compared the figures of the NDA and UPA regimes.Mukherjee admitted the problem of price rise, but said it could be countered only by drastic measures. “If someone [Sinha] believes that rhetoric will reduce prices, it is not correct,” he countered.Mukherjee said he partially rolled back stimulus by raising duty on fuels since he did not want to take short-term measures. Sharing members’ concern at the problems afflicting the farm sector, he said the issue of shrinking land acreage needed to be addressed and productivity raised.On the government’s emphasis on cutting fiscal deficit, Mukherjee said, “We cannot live on borrowed resources domestically and internationally. Fiscal consolidation has to happen. So, I have to reduce expenditure. I cannot indulge in fancy proposition.”