Petrol price hike

Government is all set to face a united Opposition onslaught on petrol price hike and price spiral as efforts are on to forge a larger political consensus for a Bharat bandh on the issue on May 31.

While the NDA has given a Bharat Bandh call for the day, the Left parties have decided to observe an 'All India Protest Day' on May 31 that will include strikes, picketing, demonstrations, rasta roko and rallies against the hike.

Sources in the Opposition camp said that efforts are also on in rope in the UPA allies like Trinamool Congress and DMK, who have opposed the fuel price hike yesterday.

JD-U president Sharad Yadav has also talked to Left parties and SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in this regard, while attempt is on to take BJD and AIADMK also on board for the May 31 agitations, the sources said. Samajwadi Party is supporting the UPA government from outside.

A leader from the Opposition speaking on the condition of anonymity said that the attempt is to re-enact a scenario of July 5, 2010 Bharat bandh, when opposition parties from north and south with conflicting ideologies like that of BJP and Left had coordinated their agitations to oppose the fuel price hike.

Rejecting government's argument that the hike in petrol prices has been done by petroleum companies as the pricing of petrol stands deregulated, Yadav said, "This is an eyewash... We (NDA) are going to observe a Bharat bandh on May 31."

In a press statement, the Left parties, CPI-M, CPI, RSP and All India Forward Bloc said that the Left parties strongly condemn the steep increase in the price of petrol.