Political Community in India have vehemently opposed the massive rise in the Price of Petrol today. Both allies and Opposition have registered their disappointment with this move of Government.
Petrol prices will rise between Rs.7.54 and Rs.7.98 in the four metros following a base price hike of Rs.6.28 per litre exclusive of taxes, effective midnight.
This whole petrol price hike is clearly unreasonable, arbitrary and is condemned as it will put further inflationary pressure and lead to further rise in prices. Life of the common man will become more difficult and miserable. The gross mismanagement of food and general economy by the UPA regime has led to the decline of the Rupee.“Â BJP’s chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar said.
Reflecting public anger over the dramatic price hike, UPA ally Trinamool Congress slammed the move, saying the hike was “a burden on the common man”.
Asserting that she and her party were not consulted over this politically fraught decision, Banerjee said the trinamool was not pulling out of the government, but warned that this would cause more economic and political instability.
The DMK, another key UPA ally, was also disappointed and said it will take up the issue with the government.
The chief opposition Bharatiya Janata Party was unstinting in its denunciation of the price hike and accused the government of burdening the common man through “mismanagement of the economy”. The party demanded a rollback and asserted that it will take its protest against the price hike to the streets.
“It’s atrocious and unbelievable. The UPA government on its third anniversary has given the gift of fuel hike to the people,” senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar told reporters here.
“This is injustice and there is no justification for this,” he said.
BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain warned that the Congress would be taught a lesson in the general elections, adding that the UPA allies would face collateral damage for being seen to support the Congress over this unpopular move. He accused the UPA of celebrating three years in power Tuesday when the economy was reeling.
Taking a dig at the UPA-II’s third anniversary celebrations, Hussain said the price hike has exposed the government’s claims of standing up for the common man.
“The government had taken this step emboldened by the presence of new allies,” he said, alluding to leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party and Lalu Yadav of the RJD sharing the stage with the UPA at the anniversary celebrations.
BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman rebutted the government’s contention that the price hike was forced by the rise in global oil prices said it was merely using the global financial crisis as “an excuse for its mismanagement of the economy”.
The Communist parties, too, slammed the hike.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist said the economy was in a state of collapse.
D. Raja of the Communist Party of India said: “It is just a prelude. It will burden the common people and we will protest on the streets and the government will have to rollback the hike.”
“It is a cruel blow on people who are already suffering from severe price rise. The Left parties have called upon all party units to immediately organise powerful protest actions.”  said CPM general secretary Prakash Karat.
A defensive Congress, however, took refuge in the high global prices of oil. “Global prices are up and the oil companies take their own decisions after the deregulation of petrol prices. India is part of the world and so it is affected too,” said Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi.
“If rupee depreciates by one against the US dollar, our oil companies lose Rs 8,000 crore annually.” said  Oil minister S Jaipal Reddy. He further added, “Diesel is currently sold at a loss of Rs 15.35 a litre, kerosene at Rs 32.98 per litre loss and oil firms lose Rs 479 on sale of every 14.2-kg domestic LPG cylinder”