Protest Continues, Govt says no rollback

New Delhi. Amidst pressure from opposition and its allies, Congress on Friday pressed the government for a decision to ease the burden on people even as petroleum minister Jaipal Reddy ruled out any immediate rollback.  However Reddy assured that there could be a reduction in petrol prices in near future seeing downward trend in international crude oil prices.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi reached to Prime minister’s residence on Friday. Other members of the Congress core group including finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, defence minister A K Antony, home minister P Chidmabaram and her political secretary Ahmed Patel arrived there. Though there was no official word about what transpired in the meeting, there are indications that the party would prefer some sort of revision in the hiked petrol prices.

At the AICC briefing, party spokesperson Manish Tiwari indicated that a revision in the prices could be made in the next few days. “We do hope that our sentiment will be respected. We had yesterday itself said that we are fully sensitive if any step of the government puts a burden on common man even if it is required.’’ Tiwari told reporters.

However Petroleum minister Jaipal Reddy ruled out any immediate roadblock. “We in the ministry cannot remain indifferent but at this point we are not able to take any definitive view,” he said. “Watch for just few days… I say days and not weeks. When we come to know the (international pricing) trend we will come back to you with our views,” he said.
Nationwide protest against the petrol price hike continues on the second consecutive day, as protesters in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Jammu and Kerala burnt effigies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, set motorcycles on fire and held placards reading “Bring down petrol prices”.