Petrol price hike was decision of oil marketing firms: Pranab.

Amid resentment over the sharp hike in petrol prices, the Government today distanced itself from the decision saying the call was taken by oil marketing firms. "So far as petrol price is concerned, petrol has been deregulated. It is the oil marketing companies' review," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said when asked about the Rs 3.14 per litre hike.


He was talking to reporters after launching Land of Two Rivers, a book written by Nitish Sengupta in New Delhi.  Yesterday the state-owned oil companies hiked petrol prices stating that depreciation of Rupee increased the cost of crude oil imports. This is the second major hike in four months. In May, petrol price was increased by Rs 5 per litre. While the UPA ally Trinamool Congress has already demanded a rollback in the hike, CPI(M) termed it as "callous" and demanded restoration of the administrative regulation of petrol pricing.   The CPI(M) said that the petrol price hike comes at a time when inflation is touching double digits and this would only have a cascading effect on price rise. The RBI in its monetary policy today said that the petrol price hike would push WPI inflation up by 7 basis points. Petrol prices were freed from government control in June last year.

BJP slams govt over fuel price hike, threatens protest.

New Delhi:  The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today joined the growing chorus of political outrage over the latest hike in fuel prices. Slamming the government over move, the BJP - the main opposition party - threatened to take to the streets to protest against the hike, saying it would force the government for a rollback in prices. It also rejected the government's argument of the fuel price hike being related to the fall in rupee, saying that it was faulty financial policies of the Centre that was responsible for this move.

"Congress is angry with the common man...that is why the hike", BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said. The party also exhorted West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to use her clout in getting the government to reverse its decision.

Ms Banerjee's party, the Trinamool Congress, incidentally has expressed its unhappiness after petrol prices were increases by Rs. 3.14 a litre yesterday. Senior party leader and cabinet minister Dinesh Trivedi said his party was "very upset" but that "the alliance with the UPA is not in trouble, this is a democratic way of expressing dissent." Other allies of the Congress, including the DMK and Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) too have criticised the move.With the fuel issue still raging, an impending ministerial meeting to consider making cooking gas more expensive for households had to be called off today.