Diesel price hike: TMC, BJP, other parties to hold rallies

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be holding a rally in Kolkata on Saturday evening demanding a rollback on the hike on diesel prices and the limit on just 6 LPG cylinders per year for a family. Mamata will also be demanding a rollback of subsidy cuts in cooking gas.

Five central trade unions on Friday announced agitations from Saturday to demand rollback in the diesel price hike and for withdrawal of the decision on subsidised LPG cylinders. There would be statewide rallies, meetings, gate-meetings at even sub-divisional levels during the next two days, a signed statement by Shyamal Chakrabory (CITU), Ranjit Guha (AITUC), Mihir Bandopadhyay (UTUC), Saral Deb (TUCC) and Tapan Ghosh (INTUC) said.

The trade unions condemned the central government's decision and demanded that it should be immediately reversed.

Left parties have called for dawn-to-dusk state-wide bandh in Kerala and the Delhi BJP have called for a strike in the capital.

Meanwhile, Left parties have called for dawn-to-dusk state-wide bandh in Kerala and the Delhi BJP have called for a strike in the capital.

The Delhi unit of the BJP will also stage a demonstration at Jantar Mantar on Saturday demanding withdrawal of hike in price of diesel and cap on cooking gas cylinders. Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta alleged that the government had made life of people difficult due to price rise and the increase in price of diesel has broken common man's back.

Reacting to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's comment that "We live in the 21st century, so rise in price is justified", Gupta asked, "Does living in the 21st century means that the government has the right to loot and people don't have right to live."

The BJP also dubbed the hike in diesel prices and the LPG limit to six cylinders in an year as "virtual financial terror". "By rationing LPG cylinders, the government has opened it up for black-marketing. We would like to emphasise that this is the beginning of the end of subsidy on LPG or of providing them at a reasonable cost. At the same time, the government has legitimised black-marketing of LPG cylinders. This is loud and clear," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

Rudy charged the diesel hike is "another deceit and a virtual unleashing of financial terror" on the common man of the country. Rudy said these decisions have come at a time when inflation is skyrocketing and the country is faced with "mindboggling corruption".

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