BJP against oil price hike, CPI says thanks for sparing kerosene

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday took over the role of the principal critic of the government from the CPI(M) and the CPI and criticised the hike in petrol prices.

While the BJP warned that it would create inflationary pressure on the economy, the main allies of the government, from whom the maximum criticism of the move was expected, stayed moderate in their attack on the government.

The CPI, for instance, said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government should have spared cooking gas from the price hike. The forthcoming Budget should reduce excise duty on LPG so that the increase could be "absorbed" to an extent, the party added.

"We urge the government to set up a mechanism by which the rise and fall of international oil prices can be absorbed without frequently imposing the burden on the common man's budget," the party's central secretariat said.

The CPI said it was satisfied with the petroleum ministry's decision to leave, kerosene, a poor man's fuel, untouched in the hike.

By contrast a battery of big guns from the BJP attacked the government and took out dharna and demonstration in protest against the price hike.

Former Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, who was in Jaipur to file his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections, said he was concerned about the inflationary impact of the hike.

BJP chief M Venkiah Naidu, who had gone to Karnataka to file his papers, said the UPA government had failed poor and working people.

Terming the hike "anti-farmer and anti-people", Naidu said the UPA government must explain why additional burden was put on the people, especially as the government was "supposed to be pro poor and common man backed by communists."

"They must explain the additional burden when they say they will do everything with a human face," he said in a sarcastic jibe at the UPA government. BJP General Secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi led a demonstration in Delhi against the hike.

"The government's decision to hike the fuel prices when farmers are engaged in ploughing and sowing shows how far they are removed from ground realities and the pulse of the people," Naqvi said.

Taking exception to the hike barely few days before the Budget session, he asked, "what was the hurry? The international crude oil prices have been on the rise for the past several months. They could have waited till the Budget session."