Mamata's new rhetoric: will quit if diesel and kerosene prices hiked

Following inconclusive talks with the Prime Minister and Finance Minister over the hike in petrol prices and financial assistance to the state, West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee has issued a fresh salvo against the Congress led UPA-2 warning against a further hike in the prices of LPG and disel. Speaking to the media after her meeting with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Kolkata, Mamata said, “I am concerned about LPG and diesel, where the government is planning to increase prices. If price rise happens, then we may have to think again.” “We don’t want to withdraw our support, but there are some compulsions in politics also. Enough is enough, we are answerable to people,” she added. Earlier on Tuesday a delegation of Trinamool Congress MPs had met the Prime Minister in New Delhi to express the party’s displeasure over the hike in petrol prices. The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, is said to have expressed his inability to roll back petrol prices, while asking the TMC MPs to act responsibly. He said a rollback of the petrol price hike was not a feasible option as tax cuts to bring down petrol prices would invariably affect social sector spending. [caption id=“attachment_126769” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“I am concerned about LPG and diesel, where the government is planning to increase prices. If price rise happens, then we may have to think again: Mamata Banerjee. PTI”]  [/caption] The Prime Minister had given the TMC MPs the example of Greece where huge subsidies led to the present crisis and explained that sustained under-recovery by oil companies would make them bankrupt. He said the government had so far only ’tinkered’ with the petrol prices as they did not affect the masses. The Prime Minister is also said to have been non-committal on the issue of hiking diesel and kerosene prices. Meanwhile, Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, negotiated a Rs 19,000-crore bailout package with Banerjee in Kolkata. Following the meeting Mukherjee returned to the capital and briefed the Prime Minister . Sources say that he explained to the Prime Minister, the financial difficulties in offering an enhanced West Bengal bailout package. Mamata has asked the Centre to compensate her state for years of Left rule that she claims stripped the state treasury bare. Agencies