Chorus against fuel price hike gets louder

CHENNAI: Left parties have demanded that the Centre rollback the recent hike in prices of the diesel and LPG and reclaim control of petrol pricing. They also dismissed as empty DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi’s and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s calls for a rollback.Speakers at a protest meeting held near Memorial Hall here on Monday evening raised the pitch against the government, saying it could well take the burden of fuel price hikes off the shoulders of the common man by doing away with the various tax breaks given to corporates.“Both Karunanidhi and Mamata Banerjee are part of the UPA at the Centre. There is no way the price hikes were made without their knowledge and consent. So it is only for drama that they have come out with statements,” said CPI (M) central committee member and party MP TK Rangarajan.“The Congress has hiked diesel prices only because it has been emboldened by the fact that the Left is not in power in its two bastions. The Congress has assumed that the Left will not raise its voice,” he added.“The hikes have only served to render the poor man even poorer. We will take the fight to the Centre from all across the country if the Centre does not roll back the price hike,” said All India Forward Bloc district secretary V Balaji. CPI State deputy secretary C Mahendran noted that India faced the highest taxation on petrol and diesel in the world. “Diesel can be given at `32 a litre if the current tax regime is corrected. It is in place only to enable the dole to the corporate sector.”